The New Acland opencut mine is located 150km west of Brisbane in the Darling Downs region of South East Queensland. The Acland Stage 2 expansion is well underway and is on budget and scheduled for an April 2007 completion.

Over the next three months a mixture of new and relocated mobile equipment will arrive on the Acland site having been relocated from the Jeebropilly Mine which is due to close in February 2007.

Looking forward, the company said it expected its results for the 2007 year to be lower than in 2006 for a number of reasons.

“Firstly, our sales revenue is likely to be lower due to lower US dollar selling prices for our export coal and an appreciating Australian currency against the US dollar. Our sales tonnages will also be lower compared to last year,” New Hope said.

“Secondly, while the Acland expansion will result in higher group production in the longer term, our group production for this year will be slightly lower as we transition from Jeebropilly to Acland over the next six months.

“Our fuel costs, tyre costs, steel costs and people costs will be higher in this current year which will affect our results. However, we expect to remain in the lowest cost quartile of Australian coal producers.”