New Hope management is committed to working cooperatively with the other members of the Bengalla Joint Venture and the site Bengalla mine management team to ensure a smooth transition in management from the previous operators, it said.

“The Bengalla Mine is one of the lowest cost export thermal coal mines supplying the Asian seaborne thermal coal market,” New Hope said.

“The outlook for Asian seaborne thermal coal markets is starting to show signs of stabilizing after a period of weakness driven by Chinese import contraction.

“Thermal coal spot indices have been relatively stable in Australian dollar terms over the past quarter and vessel queues at the port of Newcastle have increased from below 10 at the end of 2015 to approach 20 vessels.”

Supply is reacting to the current historically low prices with export growth from Australia moderating whilst exports from Indonesia appear to have peaked, the company said.

“Demand for high quality Australian thermal coal from traditional importers such as Japan, Korea and Taiwan remains firm,” it said.

“There remains no consensus regarding the future direction of thermal coal prices with a great divergence of views.”