The thermal coal mine produced 995,000 tonnes for the quarter, bringing the total production for the 2006 calendar year to a record 3.5 million tonnes, which surpassed the previous year's production efforts of 3Mt.

Sebuku sales increased 21% from the 2005 figure of 2.91Mt to 3.53Mt, with sales for the December quarter at just over 1Mt.

In a further boost for the company, total resources at Sebuku rose from 71Mt to 103Mt over the quarter with exploration activities still continuing.

Meanwhile, following the previous quarter's dismal revenue earnings which more than halved to $A63.4 million, revenue for the quarter was up at just over $123 million, excluding income from recently purchased metal distribution business Varomet.

At the end of the quarter, Straits had cash resources of $136 million which included $108 million for the group's operations in Australia, $24 million cash reserves for Straits Asia – which listed in November last year – and $4 million attributable to Straits other activities.

Shares in Straits have shed 5c to $3.37 in lunchtime trading today.