Following its merger with Gloucester Coal the company had outstanding depth in its management ranks that would be able to deliver on the targets, he said in Yancoal’s annual report.

“At the time of the merger with Gloucester Coal, we advised shareholders that a priority for Yancoal would be continued growth in production across our portfolio, together with achieving the potential synergies identified by the Yancoal and Gloucester management teams during the merger process,” Li said.

“In recent months, growth options have been reviewed and management has worked to identify and rank all available opportunities.

“Following this review, a new set of growth targets encompassing the most attractive growth options and incorporating a plan for sequential development in line with funding availability was prepared and has recently been approved by the board.

“Under this five-year plan, we envisage that saleable production will grow significantly, reaching around 24Mtpa on an equity basis by 2017.”

Total employees grew from 1688 at the end of 2011 to 2680 at the end of 2012.

Over the course of the year, many employees accepted role changes and additional responsibilities as the company grew.

“There is a great deal of industry experience amongst both head office and mine management teams and the knowledge, dedication and ingenuity of our people will be called upon in the coming year as we strive to reduce operating costs at all mine sites and to ensure that the growth opportunities identified during the merger process can be delivered economically and on time,” Li said.

A number of development projects are underway, with the development timetable dependent on approvals from government authorities and agreements from landowners.

Synergy opportunities with Gloucester include harmonising procurement for a number of major consumables across the company, developing a blending strategy and bringing forward development of stage 2 of the Moolarben project in New South Wales.

Li recognises that the industry is going through a difficult patch but believes the company has the management and resources to achieve its targets.

“While growth is a priority, we are mindful that coal market conditions remain difficult,” he said.

“We take some comfort from emerging evidence that the low point in coal prices was experienced in the September quarter of 2012.

“However we know that we must be unrelenting in our focus on achieving synergies and maximising operational efficiency if acceptable results are to be achieved in the future.”