The development of its Maules Creek open-cut mine is expected to increase production to about 23Mtpa by FY2017, he told a conference.

“Whitehaven has a track record of developing a portfolio of

existing open-cut mines at a production rate of about 5Mtpa,” he said.

“The commencement of longwall production at Narrabri this year is forecast to increase the overall saleable production by 65% compared to previous year.

“In FY 2013, Whitehaven is forecast to supplement own coal production with 0.9 Mt of coal purchases.”

Federal government approval has been received for Maules Creek project and secondary approvals in the form of various management plans submitted to agencies for approval prior to the start of construction.

The majority of these plans have been approved, with the remainder awaiting final sign-off.

Productivity at Narrabri continues to increase, while recent changes are expected to see benefits in longwall panel 2, according to Flynn.

Narrabri is progressing, with the first longwall change-out and mining

of the second longwall panel expected to start in mid-July.

Experienced managers have been put in place to deliver on the growth plans, according to Flynn, who was previously chief executive of the Tinkler group. Prior to that he was managing partner in Ernst & Young’s Sydney office and a member of its Oceania executive team.

Jamie Frankcombe, who is the executive general manager of operations, has more than 33 years’ experience in open-cut and underground coal mining, including executive level roles within Australian, American and Indonesian coal operations.

Most recently Frankcombe served as the director of operations for Fortescue Metals Group.

Brian Cole is executive general manager of projects and has more than 35 years in heavy engineering projects and operations at an executive level in the energy related sector.

He recently managed construction of the three stages of NCIG coal terminal development with a total capital cost of $2.8 billion