PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Coal miner Stanmore has reported a strong three months of production during the quarter ended June.

The ASX-listed company on Thursday reported that run-of-mine (RoM) production for the June quarter had reached 5-million tonnes, up from the 4.1-million tonnes produced in the last quarter, bringing half-year production to 9.1-million tonnes.

Saleable coal production remained stable in the June quarter at 3.2-million tonnes, bringing half-year saleable coal production to 6.4-million tonnes. Sales of produced coal also reached 3.2-million tonnes in the quarter, up from the 2.7-million tonnes sold in the March quarter.

“Saleable production for the quarter remained strong, while sales of produced coal also improved, but continued to be negatively impacted by the inability of both rail network and haulage to provide sufficient capacity to support the recovery of our sales volumes after the wet weather impacts experienced in the first quarter,” said CEO and executive director Marcelo Matos.

“All sites have ended the quarter with healthy levels of product and RoM stockpiles which should support our second half of 2023 sales performance. Metallurgical coal prices weakened early in the quarter and stabilised during May as general supply tightness eased and coal availability normalised. Performance of the logistics chain may remain a challenge with maintenance outages scheduled in the third quarter, though we’re expecting sales volumes to recover over the second half of 2023.”

As part of its growth initiatives, Stanmore is undertaking a number of capital projects aimed at increasing efficiency and maximising delivery of value.

One of these projects is a $69-million spend at the South Walker Creek project to expand the coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP) capacity to 1 200 t/h through the construction of a dense media cyclone modulator plant adjacent to the existing CHPP to increase the capacity to 9.4-million tonnes a year of RoM coal feed, and resulting in 7-million tonnes a year of saleable coal production.

The company is also constructing a new maintenance workshop at South Walker Creek to support the increased mining volumes.

The expansion project will also contemplate the introduction of three additional hired truck and excavator fleets with additional operating expenditure commitments expected to increase mining capacity to 9.4-million tonnes a year annualised rate by mid-2024. These investments are expected to take place during 2023 and 2024 with the aim to achieve the new steady-state production rate of circa 7-million tonnes a year from early 2025.

Development of Pit 5 North project at Isaac Plains East also started in the quarter for additional mining production of 1.4-million tonnes of RoM coal over a period of two years.

A variation of Stanmore’s existing mining services agreement with EPSA Pacific has been concluded and includes the introduction of an additional truck and excavator fleet for a period of around 24 months from the second half of 2023, as well as approximately $2.5-million of capital expenditure for surface water management, culverts for a creek crossing and realignment of the 66 kV overhung power line, clearing and grubbing, and topsoil stripping.

“The approvals demonstrate the continued drive by Stanmore to maximise and accelerate shareholder value generation from our existing assets by implementing capital efficient organic improvement and growth projects,” said Matos.