A new enterprise bargaining agreement is currently being negotiated with the workforce and some strike action was taken during the quarter; however, despite this the workforce performed safely and efficiently, according to Gloucester.

The Duralie opencut mine set an overburden removal record of 1.25 million cubic metres and recovered 215,000 tonnes of ROM coal during the quarter. Gloucester said that a new Leibherr 9250 excavator had been commissioned by Leighton, which was contributing to production capacity.

Gloucester has applied to the NSW Department of Planning to extend the opencut operation to recover an additional 1.4 million tonnes of coal.

Work is continuing on the adjacent low ash coking coal Clareval seam. To date more than 1km of strike length of thick Clareval seam has been defined, representing around 1Mt of coal.

During the quarter the company sold its coking and thermal coal production at $A135 per tonne and $51/t respectively. Gloucester settled coking coal contracts with Japanese buyers at $113/t, with these contracts to kick in this month.