Buoyed on by production records at the Narrabri North longwall mine, Whitehaven’s total saleable coal production from its various operations totalled 3.3Mt.
This was a new quarterly record and up 40% year-on-year.
Whitehaven said construction of Maules Creek was 68% complete by the end of September.
“Project construction costs are estimated to be $670 million by March 2015 at the time when first coal is scheduled to be railed,” Whitehaven said.
“If work on the project continues to progress in advance of the construction schedule then expenditures at the time of the first coal shipment will be lower than indicated above.”
Maules Creek is targeting 6Mt per annum of coal production over the first 12 months and has approval to ramp up to 13Mtpa run of mine.
Management also provided an update on the Vickery project which received New South Wales government environmental approval last month.
This Gunnedah Basin project, which has existing federal environmental approval due to previous mining in its area, is based on initially producing 4.5Mt ROM using Whitehaven’s nearby coal handling and preparation plant.
While a Vickery startup is flagged to occur after Maules Creek hits 13Mtpa – it also needs an investment partner.
“As Whitehaven owns 100% of the Vickery project it will seek to form a joint venture with potential customers by selling down up to a 30% interest in the project,” the company said.
“It is anticipated that customers for the high quality metallurgical coals which can be produced by the project will be interested in purchasing a stake in the project.”
Whitehaven’s coal prices have been tied to weak Newcastle index prices for thermal coal (average of $68/t in the September quarter) and December quarter benchmark settlements with Japanese and Korean steelmakers for metallurgical coal ($119/t for hard coking coal).
In regards to the met coal markets, Whitehaven believes that mine closures and production cutbacks elsewhere have helped address the glut.
“As a result market analysts are suggesting that this settlement ($119/t) could mark the bottom of the metallurgical coal price for this market,” the company said.
Whitehaven shares were down almost 3% to $1.50 in afternoon trading yesterday.
