Back in 2007 Centennial sold the Anvil Hill project to Xstrata, which renamed it Mangoola and planned to start exporting coal from the mine in 2012.

In August the Supreme Court ruled that Centennial would have to give up capacity in NCIG’s upcoming export terminal and this decision was upheld in the appeals court on Friday.

“The extent of Xstrata’s use of Centennial’s capacity at NCIG is potentially limited by restrictions contained in the agreements in force between the NCIG shareholders, the terms of the asset sale deed itself and other practical difficulties,” Centennial said after the ruling was upheld.

“Centennial remains confident that sufficient port capacity will be available for its growing exports.”

The company added that the new port access framework for Newcastle was being implemented and could potentially double port capacity to more than 200 million tonnes per annum in the next few years, “thereby providing ample port capacity for all producers”

The NCIG consortium is expecting to complete the export terminal by March.