Once again the top producers were all Queensland mines, with top producer Rio Tinto’s Kestrel mine producing a respectable 5.490Mt, up 6% on last year.

Despite its output falling by 25%, Oaky North was the second highest producer with 5.329Mt, (4.850Mt longwall coal), followed by Anglo Coal’s Moranbah North 4.782Mt (4.509Mt longwall coal), Xstrata’s Newlands 4.163Mt (3.912Mt longwall coal) and Anglo’s German Creek Southern operation 3.722Mt (3.440Mt longwall coal).

While Southern’s output climbed 3.3% and Kestrel was up 6%, all other top performers lost ground on last year: Moranbah down 9% and Newlands down 19%.

Few mines in fact improved their output this year with some exceptions. After struggling with gas and other issues for years, Anglo’s Dartbrook mine in NSW improved by 14% on the previous year to produce 2.891Mt.

RAG Coal’s North Goonyella mine also turned in a much improved year with output up 45% to 2.804Mt.

Other mines that improved were Centennial Coal’s Springvale operation, up 17% with 2.584Mt and BHP Billiton Illawarra Appin, up 13% with 3.156Mt.

Gympie Gold’s Southland mine in the Hunter Valley improved by 16.8% to manage an output of 1.266Mt.

Last year’s output was accounted for by 34 mines, five of which closed during the 2001-02 period. This year, four mines closed, including the New Wallsend mini-wall, South Bulga, Tower and Wambo, leaving 26 longwall mines currently operating in Australia.

The successful takeover of MIM Holdings earlier in the year by Xstrata leaves the latter in control of nine longwall mines, representing 37% of total longwall output.

See Production Table Click here .