Overall production for the company was 362,000 tonnes for the June quarter, 297,000t of which came from its two longwalls.

Longwall production has continued to ramp up at NRE No 1 with over 216,000t of production reported for the three months to June 2012.

“Geotechnical along with operational conditions on and around the longwall

have been better than initially anticipated with only minor commissioning issues being experienced from the new longwall machinery,” the company said.

A longwall change out is expected to start in the next quarter supporting the extraction of the next longwall block at NRE No 1.

Total development of 1433m at Wonga East was completed to support the future extraction of longwall panels.

Gujarat is in the process of upgrading its high voltage (HV) supply infrastructure at NRE No 1.

Several project elements are involved in the upgrade and these are generally progressing to plan, the company said.

“Several of the new HV switchrooms have been delivered to site with cabling installation to and from the rooms being in an advanced stage,” it said.

More than 145,000t was mined at Gujarat’s NRE Wongawilli colliery during the quarter which saw the completion of Longwall 20 block.

During the quarter the relocation of the longwall equipment to the next longwall block was conducted as planned and production in the next longwall block started, the company said.

“This new longwall block will see the extraction of some 500,000t,” Gujarat said. “The geotechnical risks associated with this block are somewhat less than the previous longwalls, and hence better productivity results are expected.”

Gujarat said it is ready to take advantage of global demand and aims to lift combined production to more than 5Mtpa by 2016.