Peabody chief financial officer Amy Schwetz said the company was aiming for second half export volumes of around 6.8 million short tons with the help of its New South Wales operations including its Metropolitan underground mine which suffered a gas outburst that curtailed production earlier this year. 

“We had very low shipments out of Metropolitan in the first half of the year, so we expect that to be additive and not dependent on the Goonyella coal chain [in Queensland] going forward,” Schwetz told an analysts’ briefing. 

“So it's those drivers that are leading us to expect to see these higher volumes in the back half of the year, but we did feel it was appropriate to add that cautionary response with respect to infrastructure performance.”

Export performance picked up in June after the rail system returned to normal after the cyclone.

“We have the coal on the ground and we were able to load those trains quickly and see great month in June,” Schwetz said. 

“We don't have to duplicate that every month, but we need the rails to continue to perform sort of at capacity.”