New Hope’s New Acland mine produced 1.26Mt in the quarter while its West Moreton operations produced 0.3Mt.

Sales for the quarter matched production at 1.56Mt, 29% higher than the corresponding period last year.

Despite these strong sales, the company said they had been somewhat offset by increased cost of production and transportation and a high Australian dollar exchange rate.

Last year’s coal sales were severely impacted by the Queensland floods; however New Hope had only experienced minimal rain impacts over the quarter.

Focusing on its pipeline of projects, the miner said a supplementary environmental impact statement for the proposed stage three expansion of New Acland was in its final stages, with a submission due to the Office of the Co-ordinator General in April.

Following community concerns of the location of the Jondaryan rail loading facility, the company recently pledged to move the infrastructure away from the township outskirts to an area on the mining lease if stage three of the New Acland project gained approval.

New Hope said it was now working on alternative mine designs for the project, while infrastructure studies were underway.

The company has also undertaken community consultation in relation to the stage three expansion of New Acland.

Last October the company received a number of preliminary and incomplete proposals from third parties in relation to a potential change of control transactions.

Updating shareholders on its assessment of a formal takeover, the company said it was continuing to assess a takeover possibility.

“A number of third parties have been undertaking detailed due diligence on New Hope during the past quarter,” New Hope said.

“New Hope remains in discussion with those third parties, and those discussions remain confidential and incomplete.”

New Hope will keep shareholders informed if any material developments are made.

The company expects its net profit after tax for the half year ended January 31, 2012 to be between $96-$101 million.

Excluding non-recurring items in the prior corresponding period, the forecasted net profit represents an 18-25% jump above the operating result achieved in 2011.

New Hope expects to release its half-year results to the market on Tuesday, March 20.