New South Wales coal miners were unable to realise the full benefits of soaring coal prices in the September quarter as extreme rain events affected operations.
Production for the September quarter was lower than planned across all three of Whitehaven Coal’s open-cut mines in NSW, with access to the Maules Creek mine cut off for seven days due to flooding.
Maules Creek produced 1.6 million tonnes (Mt) of run-of-mine (ROM) coal across the three months, a 41 per cent drop from the June quarter (3.1Mt).
Access at the Tarrawonga mine was cut off for two days and haulage roads were closed for 14 days in September. This resulted in a 67 per cent drop in coal production from 1.06Mt to 352,000 tonnes (t).
Werris Creek production was also down 69 per cent, while Whitehaven’s Gunnedah open pits produced 68 per cent less coal in the September quarter from the June quarter.
Maules Creek, Tarrawonga and Werris Creek were already expected to produce lower volumes across the three months relative to the strong June quarter as a result of mine sequencing processes. The wet weather exacerbated the situation.
Narrabri avoided the same rain disruptions to post an improved quarter, with a 9 per cent increase in coal production reflecting consistent longwall performance following a successful longwall step around to avoid a fault zone in the 110 panel.
Whitehaven’s total coal production was 37 per cent down from the three months before, which could be seen as a missed opportunity given the company achieved a record average coal price of $581/t for the quarter ($514/t for the June quarter). Whitehaven shifted coal at $189/t in the September quarter of 2021.
Yancoal, which operates a host of mines across NSW, experienced a slightly improved September quarter, with a 6 per cent increase in coal production from the three months prior (13.2Mt compared to 12.5Mt).
But production was down 23 per cent from the September quarter of 2021, with the company citing the cumulative impact of past and ongoing exceptional rainfall.
“Water storage levels at the mines in NSW were already at capacity, so the rain continues to impact mining activities in several ways,” the company said in its quarterly.
Yancoal outlined the effects of rain events: an immediate loss of production during the rain event, followed by a loss in productivity due to operating in wet and boggy conditions; additional time was lost pumping water out of the pits and off benches; and where the water storage dams were at capacity, water must be stored in operating locations (sacrificial pits), inhibiting mining operations.
Yancoal’s average coal price was $481/t across the three months, a 31 per cent rise from the June quarter and 210 per cent jump from the September quarter of 2021.