Jury said the longwall ramp-up was progressing satisfactorily, with a steady improvement in daily production.

 

Following a series of adjustments and further operator familiarisation with equipment, the longwall is on target to achieve forecast production rates, but it is still very early days.

 

“We are still getting through a lot of minor teething issues with the wall, but hopefully we are now starting to overcome those,” Jury said.

 

“It’s a matter of getting used to the equipment itself and also sorting out some of the minor electrical mechanical issues with the equipment.”

 

The underground conveyor system at Newpac is now fully installed, the drift conveyor has been upgraded to a capacity of 3500 tonnes per hour and the new stackout conveyor has been commissioned.

 

Jury said coal price negotiations are currently underway for both semi-soft coking coal and thermal coal for Japanese financial year 2007, with early indications that semi-soft prices should exceed levels achieved the previous year.

 

A high proportion of sales from the first year of longwall production has been secured through term contracts with customers in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and India.

 

The company yesterday announced profit after tax of $900,000 from coal sales of $22.4 million for the six months to December 31, 2006.