It says that strong international demand for its output, particularly from the Asian region, may help that continue into next year.

For the period ended September 30, the company reported a net loss of $US100.7 million, versus $1.1 billion during the same period of last year.

The net loss for the period included a gain from the early extinguishment of debt and foreign exchange gains, though officials also noted that its 2012 loss included a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $1.1 billion related to its 2011 acquisition of Western Coal.

Walter’s third quarter revenues totaled $455.8 million, down year-on-year from $612 million mainly from lower 2013 met coal prices.

However, higher met coal sales volumes in the period just ended, the producer said, helped some to offset the pricing decline.

Metallurgical coal sales totaled 2.8 million metric tons, up nearly 8% from the comparable 2012 quarter, and following its cost reduction initiative its met coal costs per ton declined 10.8% over 2012.

“We are pleased with the progress we made in the third quarter in reducing costs, improving productivity and increasing met coal sales,” chief executive officer Walt Scheller said.

“We also continued to take proactive steps to strengthen our balance sheet and enhance our financial flexibility through a debt offering and related reduction of near-term debt maturities. Demand for our products has remained firm, and we have recently seen an improvement in met coal pricing.

Scheller said that Walter is looking ahead to improved financial performance in the final quarter of the year as well as for 2014.

“Met coal production is expected to increase in the fourth quarter of 2013 as compared to the third quarter, as the Wolverine mine is moving into a more favorable phase in its mining cycle,” he said.

“The company remains on track to achieve its full-year met coal production target of approximately 11Mt and an overall 15% reduction in year-over-year met coal production costs on a per-ton basis.”

As it finishes out the year, Walter officials said that its capex belt-tightening has had an impact on its bottom line and that plan will continue.

Capital expenditures totaled $28.5 million in the third quarter, down significantly from $85.3 million in the third quarter of 2012.

For the first nine months of the year, capex was $108.7 million, less than a third of $331.3 million it reported in the first nine months of 2012.

Lower capital spending for the year, it said, is a reflection of the company's focus on disciplined capital spending in light of the current market conditions, adding that it remains on track to meet its capex target of $150 million whole-year.