Both opencut and underground tonnages were higher at 10.47Mt (from 9.34Mt the previous year) and 2.36Mt (2.19Mt), respectively.

However, overall monthly exports fell to 9.27Mt from 10.37Mt, with coking coal exports down at 5.9Mt from 7.44Mt while thermal coal exports were stronger at 3.36Mt, up from 2.94Mt.

October exports to Japan fell markedly to 3.2Mt (4.65Mt), while exports to India were down at 1.02Mt (1.18Mt). But, shipments to another key market, Korea, rose to 1.59Mt (1.22Mt).

Exports of Queensland coal in the first 10 months of 2002 totalled 103.63Mt, up from 100.32Mt in the same period of 2001.

Output per seven-hour employee shift was steady at 56.36t, from 56.22t in October 2001.

Employment rose to 10,677 from 9002, with 8375 (6755) of the jobs in opencut operations and 2302 (2589) underground.