But the company’s equipment utilisation rates still remain well below historical levels despite having increased a little over the last month, it said in its latest newsletter.

“Most of our roadway development fleet still remains off hire and whilst there are a few opportunities for hire we aren’t anticipating any material change to utilization rates in the short term,” it said.

The new roadway development contract is welcome news for the underground coal contractor.

It has a term of two years with an option to extend for a further year. It is expecting the contract to generate revenues of approximately $10-$12 million a year for the term of the contract.

“Overall the outlook for the Mastermyne division continues to be quite positive mainly supported by the increase in tendering opportunities over the first quarter and some reasonable growth in the pipeline,” it said.

“We are experiencing increased tenure in the contracts we are tendering and the majority of tenders relate to work supporting production activities in the underground operations.”