UK-listed Beacon Hill exports first Mozambique thermal coal cargo

Wednesday, 21 December 2011

Beacon Hill Resources has shipped its first export cargo of Moatize thermal coal from Mozambique's port of Beira at the weekend, it said Monday in a statement to the London Alternative Investment Market. Beacon Hill's first export shipment comprised 10,650 mt of thermal coal that was trucked to Beira port from the company's Minas Moatize mine in Mozambique's Tete province and was loaded into the vessel MV Aztec Maiden. "The proof of concept of this initial economically viable shipment allows us to evaluate key elements in the supply chain, a process which will be highly beneficial to the group when we commence production of coking coal in Q1 2012," said Beacon Hill chairman Justin Lewis in the statement.
The London-listed coal producer said it was confident of attaining export capacity in Mozambique's Sena railway to Beira port in 2012, which would pave the way for its plan to upgrade production to 2 million mt/year of coking and thermal coal over the next two years.
The company did not disclose the thermal coal cargo's destination, though a possible market could be India, which like Mozambique borders the Indian Ocean.

In the meantime, Beacon Hill is to rely on trucks to transport 500,000 mt/year of its Moatize coal to port, which is more than adequate for the company's production in 2012. Beacon Hill said in its statement that it was having ongoing talks with the Mozambique government, which recently took over the operation of the Sena railway. The company, together with Brazilian miner Vale and Rio Tinto, which now owns Riversdale Mining, is finalizing terms of reference to upgrade the Sena railway to a capacity for coal exports of 6.5 million mt/year by the middle of next year, and to 12 million mt/year by the end of 2012. "Our export capacity will be significantly enhanced by the receipt of an allocation to the Sena rail line, in conjunction with its refurbishment next year," added Lewis.

sourced Platts

Optimum Coal posts sharply higher H1 earnings

Thu Feb 3, 2011 9:31am GMT, By Agnieszka Flak

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African miner Optimum Coal Holdings reported a surge in first-half earnings, boosted by higher production and output from the Koornfontein mine it bought last year.
Optimum Coal, one of South Africa's largest producers, said outlook for thermal coal remained robust, as global supply was constrained due to severe weather in other regions.
While many South African coal mines were hit by heavy rains in January, Optimum said its operations were stable after investing in pumps and other measures to control water.
"Our production, it might have suffered a bit, but the impact is lower than the previous year," chief executive Mike Teke said, adding he expected rainfall to continue through February.
Coal prices have been rising on fears that further disruption from cyclones would hit production of coking and thermal coal in Queensland, Australia, forcing buyers into the spot market for replacement cargoes.

While transport remains a challenge for Optimum and other South African coal miners, Teke said he was optimistic that logistics group Transnet would be able to transport more coal this year after derailments affected shipments in 2010.
Transnet has said it expects to transport 70 million tonnes to South Africa's Richards Bay Coal Terminal, one of the world's largest coal export terminals, up from the 63 million tonnes it managed to transport last year.
Optimum, one of the largest shareholders in the Richards Bay terminal, said headline earnings per share for the six months to end-December totalled 139.22 cents, compared with 6.59 cents a year earlier.
The company also said first-half group production rose by about 40 percent to 7.03 million tonnes of saleable coal, while export coal production rose by the same percentage to 3.6 million tonnes.
For the year to the end of June, Optimum said it expected export coal production of between 7.2-7.6 million tonnes.
Teke said the company, which listed in March, was evaluating potential acquisitions, though it had no concrete plans yet.
Optimum shares were up 1.8 percent at 33.60 as of 0857 GMT, outperforming a flat Johannesburg All-share index.
Shares of the company are up nearly 15 percent so far this year, while the All-share index is flat.(sourced:Thomson Reuters)

China sells thermal coal cargo into S Korea at $142/T FOB

China's top coal producer China Shenhua Energy Co Ltd has sold a February-loading thermal coal shipment to a South Korean buyer at $142 per tonne on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, two sources with knowledge of the deal said on Jan 10.

The deal, sealed mid-last week, was for coal with a heating value of 5,800 kcal/kg, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because it was a commercially sensitive issue.
The sale comes as a devastating flood hit Australia's eastern Queensland state, knocking out an estimated 3-4.5 million tonnes of global thermal coal exports and prompting many South Korean and Japanese utilities to scour the market for alternative supplies.

News via Reuters, Jan10 ,2011