Wesfarmers quarterly coal production falls
Wesfarmers Limited (WES) reported a 5.9% drop in coal production at its flagship Curragh operation to 2,160,000 tonnes during the March quarter compared to the previous quarter. The company said metallurgical coal production decreased by 12% due primarily to seasonal wet weather, while steaming coal production was 13.6% higher than the previous quarter due to higher contracted demand.
Wesfarmers said coal production at its Premier mine was down 2.9% to 670,000 tonnes compared to the December quarter due to reduced demand from Verve Energy.
Wesfarmer’s share of coal production for the quarter at the Bengalla mine dropped 14.5% to 491,000 tonnes, which the company said was due to operating in a less productive section of the mining sequence.
The company said works are underway for the construction of Curragh’s second coal handling and preparation plant. On 10 November 2009 approval for the expansion of the Curragh mine up to 8.5 million tonnes per annum of export metallurgical was granted.
As at 1410 AEST, Wesfarmers shares were down 8c to $30.01.
Leave a Reply