But it was partially offset by a longwall move at its flagship Moranbah mine and subsequent geotechnical issues with the cutting panel.

Export thermal coal production for the June quarter decreased by 5% to 8.1 million tonnes, primarily due to lower production from Drayton mine in New South Wales, which is near the end of its life.

Last Thursday Anglo American advised that the future of Drayton looked more certain after the NSW Planning and Environment Department found it was in the public interest and should be approved.

In its report, the department said: “The extraction of the Drayton coal resource would generate substantial economic benefits for the regional and state economy.”

The assessment found that biodiversity, heritage, land, water, economic and social impacts were “unlikely to be significant and would be suitably mitigated and/or offset”

Anglo has asked Planning Assessment Commission to progress to the next stage of project approvals with urgency to provide certainty to the operations which will stop next year without the approval of Drayton South.

Production from Anglo’s South African thermal coal assets increased due to improved operational performance.

Export thermal coal production increased by 6% to 4.3Mt due to productivity improvements at Greenside, Goedehoep and Kleinkopje but was partially offset by adverse mining conditions at Zibulo.

Production to Eskom decreased by 7% to 8.1Mt due to lower production from Kriel as the current reserve base nears depletion.

Domestic non-Eskom production improved by 2% to 1.6Mt primarily due to additional production at Isibonelo.

Production from Cerrejon in Colombia decreased by 4% predominantly due to dust emission constraints following the extended drought conditions.