“A haul truck at Hunter Valley Operations rolled [on Monday] night after reversing over a bench,” a spokesman from Rio subsidiary Coal & Allied told ICN.

“The operator was taken to hospital with a shoulder injury and was released [yesterday] morning.

“We regard this as a serious incident and it is being fully investigated, to identify any measures that can reduce the chances of a similar event occurring in the future.”

The accident upset a good set of figures for the company’s Coal & Allied operations in the Hunter Valley.

Its Australian thermal coal production increased by 17% in the March quarter of 2014 compared with the first quarter of 2013 due to continued productivity gains achieved in the Hunter Valley.

On top of this incident at the Hunter Valley operations, Coal & Allied is still in limbo over approval of its planned expansion of its nearby Mt Thorley Warkworth operations.

The company has committed to progressing with new planning applications as a matter of urgency to secure a long-term future for Mount Thorley Warkworth mine.

NSW Minerals Council CEO Stephen Galilee said the decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the overturning of the planned Mount Thorley Warkworth modification embodied everything wrong with the NSW planning system.

Rio Tinto’s expected share of Australian hard coking coal production has decreased marginally to 8.2 million tonnes with a consequent expected increase in thermal coal production to 16.7Mt.

The change is driven by prioritising production of thermal coal from a processing plant by-product stream at Hail Creek, which delivers increased margins in the current price environment.

Semi-soft coking coal production guidance remains unchanged at 3Mt.