Underground mines produced 1.585Mt, down 27% on the 2.166Mt produced a year ago. Open cut mines produced 10.337Mt. The figures were released by the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy.

Some 10.172Mt of coal was exported, with coking coal making up 6.661Mt of the total. This was up on the 9.201Mt (total) exported in February 2003.

Over 3Mt passed through Dalrymple Bay, with the Port of Gladstone moving 3.385Mt, Hay Point 2.481Mt and Abbot Point 925,565t.

Employment figures are 11,765, up on the 10,179 people employed in February 2003. Employment figures also rose compared with January 2004 by 220 people.

Average output per seven hour employee shift was 45.84, compared with 47.58 in January 2003. This figure also dropped slightly compared with the previous month of January 2004.