The Baralaba Mine achieved record sales for the December quarter of 463,000 tonnes which was almost double the previous record.

Operations continued to ramp up with the introduction of the second large excavator fleet during November to enable increasing coal sales to be met during 2016.

During the quarter, approximately 1.47Mbcm of in-pit dumping occurred in the Baralaba North Pit and backfilling of the Baralaba Central Void began with 132Kbcm dumped there.

The approvals timeline for the Baralaba Expansion Project remains on target for the scheduled increase in production from 1 million tonnes per annum to 3.5Mtpa.

The Queensland Land Court has also handed down its recommendation in relation to Cockatoo’s Environmental Authority (EA) amendment application.

The Land Court recommended that the EA amendment application be approved by the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection on the basis of the draft EA for the application.

The EA amendment application is to allow Cockatoo to increase production at Baralaba to 3.5Mtpa and undertake mining activities on MLA80201.

The company also continued development of Stage 2 works for the Baralaba Expansion project during the December quarter.

Construction of the new train load out facility was more than 98% complete at the end of the quarter.

Work also commenced during the quarter on the Dawson Highway re-alignment adjacent to the TLO site.

Cockatoo Coal Limited and three associated companies, Baralaba Coal Pty Ltd, Cockatiel Coal Pty Ltd and Wonbindi Coal Pty Ltd appointed Grant Sparks, Martin Ford and Stephen Longley of PPB Advisory as Administrators effective 16 November 2015.

It is the Administrators’ intention that the Baralaba North Mine will continue to operate in order to generate ongoing revenue and preserve its value.