The company began the installation of the longwall just 24 days before its first shear and production of coal, Anglo American CEO of Bulk Commodities Seamus French said.

“[This is] a truly remarkable feat and a result of the team’s technical expertise and the modular approach we have taken to our underground longwall operations in Australia,” he said.

The mine, which is for sale by the company along with its other coal assets, is expected to produce 3.2 million saleable tonnes in 2016.

At full capacity, the Grosvenor longwall is capable of producing 7.5Mtpa and when fully ramped up, it is expected to operate at an all in sustaining unit cost of $A110 per tonne.

The Grosvenor project was approved for development at the end of 2011.

“We have delivered the Grosvenor metallurgical coal project ahead of schedule and below budget, with an outstanding safety record and in line with our environmental obligations,” he said.

“The Grosvenor mine project has taken more than seven million man hours to construct, with almost 6,000 personnel inducted onto the project. We look forward to shipping the mine’s high quality product to our steel customers across Asia as production begins to ramp up in the months ahead.

“While Grosvenor may not fit Anglo American’s strategic portfolio choices, its long term commercial attractiveness is beyond question.”

Anglo American will be packaging its Grosvenor and Moranbah metallurgical coal operations for sale.

The combined Moranbah North, Grosvenor and Moranbah South operations constitute one of the most significant, high quality metallurgical coal businesses in the world with a combined resource base of over half a billion tonnes as at 2014.