As planned, Aquila mine, a bord-and-pillar operation producing 0.5Mtpa, was placed on care and maintenance at the end of July.

Moranbah North is developing its own underground technology solutions to lead Anglo American’s campaign of tripling company-wide coal production by 2020.

Anglo is keen to continue transferring the lessons in productivity at Moranbah North to its nearby Grosvenor mine, which is due to begin longwall production in 2016.

The company is estimating that fourth-quarter production will be impacted by planned longwall moves at Moranbah and Grasstree.

Export thermal coal production of 1.7 Mt was in line and increased by 11% compared to Q2 2013 owing to improved equipment performance.

Export thermal coal production from South Africa decreased by 1% to 4.5Mt.

Cerrejón production in Colombia increased to 3.2Mt, a 13% increase, as the operation maintained a strong recovery post the strike in Q1 2013.

Export thermal coal production in South Africa decreased by 1% to 4.5Mt.

Production increases at Greenside and Kleinkopje were offset by challenging mining conditions at the rest of the mines. In line with improved railing performance, export sales volumes exceeded production by 8%.

Domestic thermal coal production for Eskom was in line, while non-Eskom domestic thermal coal production increased by 9% to 1.7 Mt due to additional production at Isibonelo.

Cerrejón production increased 13% to 3.2 Mt as production was ramped up to recover volumes lost from the strike in Q1 2013.