Monday, 06 Feb 2012
Reuters reported that heavy rains shut four coal mines in eastern Australia on Friday as military helicopters evacuated stranded residents from inundated towns and authorities warned of further flash flooding.
Emergency services authorities said that more than 11,000 people in Queensland state have been isolated by the flooding and thousands had been evacuated.
Whitehaven Coal said it had shut four mines due to heavy rainfall, but the mines were not flooded and no equipment had been damaged. Other miners and liquefied natural gas producers reported their operations had so far not been affected.
The Queensland Resources Council said many of the state's mines were still carrying water from last year's wet season and it was monitoring mining areas.
A spokeswoman for Xstrata, the world's largest thermal coal exporter, which has mines in both New South Wales and Queensland, said it was not aware of any impact due to the wet weather. In the northwestern district of Queensland, Xstrata said it had resumed operations at its Ernest Henry copper mine following a short suspension last week to ensure the safety of staff.
Another coal major, Rio Tinto, said it would not comment on production.
The Bureau of Meteorology said heavy rains were likely to add to already overflowing rivers and warned of localised flash flooding. It cancelled a severe weather warning for parts of New South Wales.
The 2011 floods also damaged crops and inundated coal mines, pushing up prices for coal. Australia is the world's largest coal exporter and accounts for roughly two-thirds of global trade of coking coal, used for steel production.
(Sourced from Reuters)
Showing posts with label Whitehaven Coal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Whitehaven Coal. Show all posts
Monday, February 6, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Whitehaven Coal hit by explosives shortage
Friday, 27 Jan 2012
A shortage of explosives have affected mining at Whitehaven Coal sites Source:
The Courier Mail reported that Whitehaven Coal sales fell in the December quarter after a shortage of explosives hampered mining.
The miner reported total coal sales of almost 1.43 million tonnes for the three months to December 31st down 22% compared with the same period in 2010.
According to Whitehaven, a shortage of explosives due to the shutdown of Orica's Newcastle plant prevented it from mining ore bodies in the preferred sequence.
The company sad that a shipment scheduled to load late last month did not load until this month and there was a minor impact from wet weather on its open cut mines.
Morningstar senior resources analyst Mr Gareth James said that "This doesn't change the outlook for Whitehaven. Short term issues like this don't really have much meaning."
According to the company, Whitehaven's underground mine under development at Narrabri, in northwest NSW, continued to be hampered by a lack of skilled underground miners. But the capital cost estimate for the project of about USD 300 million remained unchanged.
The company had to buy 381,000 tonnes of coal from other suppliers during the December quarter to meet fixed price legacy contracts entered into in 2005-06, but these obligations would be fully met by the end of the current financial year.
(Sourced from AAP)
A shortage of explosives have affected mining at Whitehaven Coal sites Source:
The Courier Mail reported that Whitehaven Coal sales fell in the December quarter after a shortage of explosives hampered mining.
The miner reported total coal sales of almost 1.43 million tonnes for the three months to December 31st down 22% compared with the same period in 2010.
According to Whitehaven, a shortage of explosives due to the shutdown of Orica's Newcastle plant prevented it from mining ore bodies in the preferred sequence.
The company sad that a shipment scheduled to load late last month did not load until this month and there was a minor impact from wet weather on its open cut mines.
Morningstar senior resources analyst Mr Gareth James said that "This doesn't change the outlook for Whitehaven. Short term issues like this don't really have much meaning."
According to the company, Whitehaven's underground mine under development at Narrabri, in northwest NSW, continued to be hampered by a lack of skilled underground miners. But the capital cost estimate for the project of about USD 300 million remained unchanged.
The company had to buy 381,000 tonnes of coal from other suppliers during the December quarter to meet fixed price legacy contracts entered into in 2005-06, but these obligations would be fully met by the end of the current financial year.
(Sourced from AAP)
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Delta SBD awarded second Narrabri coal contract
Thursday, 06 Oct 2011
It is reported that Delta SBD has been awarded a drivage development contract at Whitehaven Coa Narrabri Mine in northwest New South Wales, one month after it began work on the surface build of a longwall at the mine.
The Narrabri contract includes provision of supplementary labour hire two loaders and two personnel transporters for control and operation of the Narrabri twin miner development panel. Mobilisation for the new contract will begin in October 2011 with Delta to employ 60 new employees to deliver the project.
Mr Stephen Bizzaca CEO of Delta said the contract was significant because it was the first of its kind Delta had been awarded outside of the Illawarra region in New South Wales.
Delta was also awarded the Narrabri longwall project surface build and subsequent underground build. Work on the surface build of the longwall at Narrabri began on September 5 2011.
(sourced from Proactiveinvestors)
It is reported that Delta SBD has been awarded a drivage development contract at Whitehaven Coa Narrabri Mine in northwest New South Wales, one month after it began work on the surface build of a longwall at the mine.
The Narrabri contract includes provision of supplementary labour hire two loaders and two personnel transporters for control and operation of the Narrabri twin miner development panel. Mobilisation for the new contract will begin in October 2011 with Delta to employ 60 new employees to deliver the project.
Mr Stephen Bizzaca CEO of Delta said the contract was significant because it was the first of its kind Delta had been awarded outside of the Illawarra region in New South Wales.
Delta was also awarded the Narrabri longwall project surface build and subsequent underground build. Work on the surface build of the longwall at Narrabri began on September 5 2011.
(sourced from Proactiveinvestors)
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Gujarat NRE sees long term coking coal prices at $225-250/t
Mar260, 2011
In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Arun Kumar Jagatramka, MD of Gujarat NRE Coke speaking about the hard coking coal prices said, "The USD 330 or USD 300 is not something that can be sustained at the current steel prices. Post June, I expect coking coal prices to come down to the reasonable level of 225-250."
Talking about the company’s acquisition plans he said, “We are always looking for acquisition but, Whitehaven Coal is not something that is on our radar.”
The company expects to post better performance in the current quarter than the last three quarters. It aims to cross 200,000 tonnes of production and sales of around quarter million tonne.
By 2015, the company is targeting to achieve 4 million tonne of coke production in India.
Below is the verbatim transcript of Jagatramka’s interview with Latha Venkatesh and Anuj Singhal of CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.
Q: We understand that there is an Australian coal mining company Whitehaven Coal which is looking for purchases even the Aditya Birla Group apparently is interested in buying that Yanzhou Mine Company. Are you interested in more acquisitions in Australia and in Yanzhou Mining?
A: We are always looking for acquisition but, Whitehaven Coal is not something that is on our radar. Because it is mainly a thermal coal mine and we are focused on hard coking coal. We would like to remain focused on hard coking coal in the medium-term at least.
Q: Is there anything else on the radar in the next quarter that you maybe announcing in terms of acquisition?
A: New opportunities keep coming all the time. But, we always wait for the right opportunity and as of now, we don’t have any specific good opportunity that could be consider for acquisition.
Q: Have you already signed for the next quarter in terms of coking coal prices and last quarter the average was about USD 225 or so. What is the price that you are looking at in next quarter?
A: April to June quarter prices have been settled around USD 330. As far as signing the contracts, now that our mines are producing at a rate of around 2 million tonne so we are not buying any coal from third parties. Rather we have sold some surplus coal in the last two quarters. In the next quarter also some surplus coal would be sold to Chinese customers.
Q: So till what time do you think prices will sustain at these levels. Do you see then prices coming back to this may USD 250 or so?
A: The effects of floods are expected to be there at least until June. That way last few days also there has been another bout of heavy rains. Some coal shipments have been affected in terms of rail movement and other things.
Not to the extent it happened in January. So, for another two-three months until June you will have the impact of the floods and rains affecting the shipments in Australia.
Q: What would your best guess be of average coal prices in 2011?
A: USD 225 to USD 250 is a reasonable level which should be in the long-term sustainable price. The USD 330 or USD 300 is not something that can be sustained at the current steel prices.
Post June, I expect coking coal prices to come down to the reasonable level of 225-250 which is acceptable to most steelmakers today.
Q: This USD 330 that you are talking about is this one-off or all deals have been signed at this price now?
A: To our understanding most of the deals are being signed around this level because the spot prices continue to be in the range of USD 320-340 dollar level. There has not been any major new coking coal offers coming into the market that would drive down the price.
Q: What kind of projections you have in terms of production and sales of coke in the current quarter and more importantly next quarter?
A: In the current quarter, we should be doing better than the last three quarter. We should be crossing 200,000 tonnes of production and sales around quarter million tonne.
For the next financial year, we are targeting to cross a production level of 1 million tonne based on the current production plan that we have made. (sourced: CNBC-TV18)
In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Arun Kumar Jagatramka, MD of Gujarat NRE Coke speaking about the hard coking coal prices said, "The USD 330 or USD 300 is not something that can be sustained at the current steel prices. Post June, I expect coking coal prices to come down to the reasonable level of 225-250."
Talking about the company’s acquisition plans he said, “We are always looking for acquisition but, Whitehaven Coal is not something that is on our radar.”
The company expects to post better performance in the current quarter than the last three quarters. It aims to cross 200,000 tonnes of production and sales of around quarter million tonne.
By 2015, the company is targeting to achieve 4 million tonne of coke production in India.
Below is the verbatim transcript of Jagatramka’s interview with Latha Venkatesh and Anuj Singhal of CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.
Q: We understand that there is an Australian coal mining company Whitehaven Coal which is looking for purchases even the Aditya Birla Group apparently is interested in buying that Yanzhou Mine Company. Are you interested in more acquisitions in Australia and in Yanzhou Mining?
A: We are always looking for acquisition but, Whitehaven Coal is not something that is on our radar. Because it is mainly a thermal coal mine and we are focused on hard coking coal. We would like to remain focused on hard coking coal in the medium-term at least.
Q: Is there anything else on the radar in the next quarter that you maybe announcing in terms of acquisition?
A: New opportunities keep coming all the time. But, we always wait for the right opportunity and as of now, we don’t have any specific good opportunity that could be consider for acquisition.
Q: Have you already signed for the next quarter in terms of coking coal prices and last quarter the average was about USD 225 or so. What is the price that you are looking at in next quarter?
A: April to June quarter prices have been settled around USD 330. As far as signing the contracts, now that our mines are producing at a rate of around 2 million tonne so we are not buying any coal from third parties. Rather we have sold some surplus coal in the last two quarters. In the next quarter also some surplus coal would be sold to Chinese customers.
Q: So till what time do you think prices will sustain at these levels. Do you see then prices coming back to this may USD 250 or so?
A: The effects of floods are expected to be there at least until June. That way last few days also there has been another bout of heavy rains. Some coal shipments have been affected in terms of rail movement and other things.
Not to the extent it happened in January. So, for another two-three months until June you will have the impact of the floods and rains affecting the shipments in Australia.
Q: What would your best guess be of average coal prices in 2011?
A: USD 225 to USD 250 is a reasonable level which should be in the long-term sustainable price. The USD 330 or USD 300 is not something that can be sustained at the current steel prices.
Post June, I expect coking coal prices to come down to the reasonable level of 225-250 which is acceptable to most steelmakers today.
Q: This USD 330 that you are talking about is this one-off or all deals have been signed at this price now?
A: To our understanding most of the deals are being signed around this level because the spot prices continue to be in the range of USD 320-340 dollar level. There has not been any major new coking coal offers coming into the market that would drive down the price.
Q: What kind of projections you have in terms of production and sales of coke in the current quarter and more importantly next quarter?
A: In the current quarter, we should be doing better than the last three quarter. We should be crossing 200,000 tonnes of production and sales around quarter million tonne.
For the next financial year, we are targeting to cross a production level of 1 million tonne based on the current production plan that we have made. (sourced: CNBC-TV18)
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