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The price, negotiated with Japanese steel mills for the 2005/06 Japanese financial year, is a $US55/t increase and Gloucester directors believe these strong prices will be maintained into the foreseeable future.
The record sale price for Gloucester had come on the back of strong international demand for steel products and a continued supply shortage of high quality coking coal.
Gloucester announced late last week it would produce an additional 500,000 ROM tonnes per annum from a new continuous miner operation by the end of 2006, if the mine was proven viable.
The Duralie underground mine would be located adjacent to its current Duralie opencut mine in New South Wales.
Gloucester produced attributable coal output of more than 1.8Mtpa in 2003 from its 90% share of the Stratford Coal Operation and fully owned Duralie operation.
If the underground mine was given the green light, it would allow Gloucester to produce maximum raw coal output of 2.7Mtpa through to at least 2012.
