The company, which has a run-of-mine coal contract to supply its India-based parent company, made the decision after the ramp-up of production in the September quarter to 460,000 tonnes and its longwall at NRE Wongawilli surpassing the 10,000t target in August.

The first shipment was made to an unnamed Chinese steel mill through a Singapore trading house this month. Earlier in the year, low-grade development coal was also sold to a Chinese steel mill through a Japanese trading house.

Gujarat NRE Coking Coal chairman Arun Kumar Jagatramka said the company was “ramping up its production at a rapid scale” and that “plans are well on track” towards achieving the 6 million tonne per annum production target in the next 3-4 years, with production expected to be around 2Mtpa this financial year.

Gujarat NRE Coking Coal increased run-of-mine longwall production to 341,000t at its Wongawilli Colliery in the September quarter, up 18% from the previous three months, and has ramped up development activities.

Gujarat kicked off Longwall 11 at Wongawilli near Wollongong in February, and in mid-September the width of this panel was reduced to help the face move closer “to previous worked-out areas” in the Wongawilli seam.

While development of the small Nebo panels is on track, the company has mobilised a second development unit to drive the Longwall 20 and Longwall 15 panels, and for the tailgate of Longwall 16.

Gujarat also managed to widen the installation face and drive-head installation area of Longwall 19 “without using a continuous miner”

Gujarat’s shares were steady at A63c in morning trade.