PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Coal miner Whitehaven Coal has reported a 52% increase in revenue for the year ended June, as coal production and sales during the 12 months increased.

Sales revenue for the full year reached A$1.7-billion, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation rose 219% to A$714.2-million.

“The hard work that preceded the 2017 financial year has been rewarded by the company reporting its highest-ever profit for the year. This is a fitting result for a company celebrating its ten year anniversary of listing on the ASX and reflects well on all of those people who have shared and participated in the journey,” said Whitehaven MD and CEO Paul Flynn.

The increased revenue came on the back of higher coal production and sales during the full year, which was 13% and 3% higher respectively, compared with the previous corresponding period.

Run-of-mine coal production reached 23.1-million tonnes in the full year, while coal sales were reported at 20.7-million tonnes, with Whitehaven saying on Thursday that the increased production reflected the ongoing ramp-up of the Maules Creek mine and the strong performance from the Cunnedah opencut operations.

“As I have said many times, Whitehaven’s high-quality coal, which produces more energy and fewer emissions per tonne than almost all competing coals, is being widely and rapidly accepted in the growing Asian market,” Flynn said.

He noted that the outlook for high-quality coal was positive, as more high efficiency and low emissions technology coal-fired power plants were being deployed into the Asian region.

For 2018, Whitehaven is expected to produce between 22-million and 23-million tonnes of coal, with the miner warning that costs are likely to increase slightly as production of metallurgical coal increases, and the strip ratio at Maules Creek moves towards the life-of-mine ratio.