In its quarterly report, Wesfarmers noted total coal production of 3.71 million tonnes, compared to 3.68Mt in the June quarter.

Production from its wholly owned Curragh mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin fell 3% from the previous quarter to 2.3Mt.

During the September quarter, 1.71Mt of metallurgical coal and 618,000t of steaming coal was produced at the mine, compared to 1.69Mt and 708,000t respectively last quarter.

Overburden removal was down 5.1% quarter-on-quarter due to maintenance activities on major equipment and contractor performance.

A feasibility study is continuing into expanding the mine to achieve annual export tonnages of 8-8.5Mt of metallurgical coal.

Wesfarmer’s second-largest coal mine, the Premier open cut mine near Collie in Western Australia, produced 802,000t of steaming coal during the period, a 14% jump on the June quarter due to higher customer demand.

Overburden removal was 21% lower than the previous quarter, due to seasonal wet weather conditions.

Meanwhile, Wesfarmers’ share of production from its 40%-owned Bengalla open cut mine in the New South Wales Hunter Valley came to 587,000t of steaming coal, up 1.9% on the previous quarter.

The increase in production was a result of continuing operations in a more productive section of the mine sequence.

The company is continuing with feasibility studies at Bengalla to determine the viability of increasing ROM production from 8.7Mt per annum to 10.7Mtpa.

Shares in Wesfarmers were trading $A1.52 higher at $27.96 in morning trade.