This compares with the All Ordinaries, which fell about 10% for the same period.

Yesterday coal producer Aquila Resources reached new yearly lows as did Queensland coal developer Bandanna Energy and explorers Guildford Coal, Cuesta Coal and Acacia Coal.

Shares in Aquila, which half-owns the Isaac Plains hard coking coal mine in Queensland as well as other coal and iron ore development projects, have plunged by more than 70% since December.

Earlier this month Aquila gained Foreign Investment Review Board approval for offloading its 50% stake in the Isaac Plains mine for $430 million to Japan’s Sumitomo group.

The market capitalisation of Bandanna, which was being picked over by Indian groups as a takeover target last year, has plunged by 90% since July last year, despite having a strategic foothold in the Galilee Basin and late-stage projects in the Bowen Basin.

Guildford has plans to kick off first thermal coal production from the South Gobi open cut mine in Mongolia in the next 12 months. It also owns the Pentland project located in the northern end of the coal-rich Galilee Basin, with an exploration target ranging from 295Mt to 2.89Bt. Its shares have plunged by 70% since reaching $1.32 last year.

Cuesta Coal, which listed on the ASX on May 4 and has tenements in Queensland’s Surat, Bowen and Galilee basins, has seen its shares halve from a high of 24c in less than a month.

Shares in Acacia Coal, which reached 13c last June are now worth 3c.

Acacia Coal’s key Comet Ridge project in Queensland has a current JORC resource of 150Mt targeting open cut coking coal.

Acacia recently entered into a binding agreement with Bandanna Energy in relation to the sharing of a train load-out facility which will be built on a portion of the Comet Ridge tenement and significantly reduces the upfront capital expenditure on the project by approximately $50 million.

Bandanna Energy, Acacia Coal and Guildford Coal head a list of smaller coal mine developers that are expected to benefit from an industry consolidation following the $25 billion in merger deals by major producers over the last 18 months, according to a research report by Foster Stockbroking.

Leading companies in the emerging coal developers and explorers sector – which has already seen $6 billion worth of merger and acquisition activity over the last 18 months – are expected to be valued at a premium to their current enterprise value of $40 per tonne of resource, the report states.

“In our view, the valuation upside for our preferred Australian Securities Exchange-listed stocks is significant given the major producers globally trade on much higher valuation multiples and longer term pricing is expected to remain robust for some time,” the report states.