Third-quarter production for the Rio Tinto subsidiary totalled 4.4 million tonnes of coal, similar to production levels achieved during last year’s corresponding quarter.

During the quarter Coal & Allied’s Hunter Valley operations were impacted by the annual coal preparation plant maintenance shutdown and higher stripping ratios.

The Bengalla open cut thermal and coking coal operation, of which the producer owns 40%, also had lower production in the quarter mainly due to coal seam sequencing.

The company’s coking coal production was in line with the June quarter but came from different mines.

Coal sales were 2% higher than the same period last year at 4.6Mt.