Sebuku produced 834,000 tonnes of coal during the quarter and sales of 851,000t, both in line with forecasts.

“The production and sales volumes achieved for the three months to March 2007 puts the company well on track to meet the previous stated sales target of 4Mt for the 2007 year,” the company said.

For the calendar year 2006, Sebuku achieved record full-year coal sales of 3.53Mt, and in line with expansion plans the company expects to produce 6Mt per annum by 2008.

There were further significant resource upgrades at the mine in 2006 and at December 31, 2006 the resource base at Sebuku stood at 103Mt.

“This resource base is now sufficient to support a mine life at Sebuku in excess of 10 years at 6Mtpa,” the company said.

“The thermal coal market remains strong and consequently 2007 is expected to be another good year for the coal operation.”