PERTH (miningweekly.com) – New South Wales-focused Whitehaven Coal on Thursday downgraded its full-year production target, following operational issues at its Narrabri mine and geotechnical challenges at the Rocglen operation.

Whitehaven was now expected to produce between 9.8-million tonnes and 10-million tonnes of saleable coal during the full year, instead of the previously forecast 10.7-million tonnes.

Last month, Whitehaven started mining in the third longwall panel at Narrabri, which was subsequently ramped up to full production. However, the configuration of longwall panel three installation differed to that of the previous two longwall panels, in an effort to improve safety and reduce costs. This resulted in a difference between the floor levels of the longwall face-line and the tailgate development roadway.

Whitehaven, at the time, decided to stop production at the longwall.

Following an evaluation of the longwall, a recovery plan was developed and implemented. It was initially hoped that the recovery plan would not influence the forecast run-of-mine (RoM) production rate of 5.5-million tonnes from the Narrabri mine. However, changing conditions led to a revision of the recovery plan timetable, and it was now estimated that longwall production would only return in two to three weeks. As a result, the mine’s RoM production for the full year had been forecast in the range of 4.8-million tonnes to 5-million tonnes.

“We are confident the recovery plan currently being executed will deliver a return to production in the indicated timeframe,” said Whitehaven MD and CEO Paul Flynn.

“All necessary resources have been committed to resolving the issue expeditiously and the Narrabri team is being supported by the appropriate external service providers.

“Our priority is the safety of our people as we return to normal operations,” Flynn said.