The company previously announced that output from its deep mines was expected to be lower in the second half than the first at 4.5 million tonnes, due to a combination of factors that arose in July and August at four mines.

It said although production had now recovered to the rate that was anticipated at all mines except for Maltby, the disruption in September amounting to 422,000t lost production is not likely to be recovered in the fourth quarter.

Accordingly, total second-half output is now expected to be in the range of 3.9-4.1Mt.

The shortfall will impact the company’s profit and operating cash flow for the second half, and lead to a loss for the year as a whole.

Despite this, UK Coal remained upbeat.

“The group continues to make good progress towards planning approvals at a number of our key property sites and the deep mines will offer a significantly improved financial profile over the next 15 months as we come to the end of some of our legacy contracts and can access market pricing for most of our output,” the company said.