PERTH (miningweekly.com) – New South Wales coal miner Whitehaven Coal has reported a fall in production during the June quarter, and the full year to June, with mechanical issues reported at its Narrabri mine.

In the quarter ended June, Whitehaven produced 5.8-million tonnes of run-of-mine (RoM) coal, with 4.7-million tonnes of saleable coal produced. This compared with the 6.5-million tonnes RoM and 5.4-million tonnes of saleable coal produced in the previous corresponding period.

Full year RoM coal production was reported at 22.9-million tonnes, with 20.8-million tonnes of saleable coal produced. This compared with the 23.1-million tonnes of RoM produced in the 2017 financial year, with saleable coal production remaining on par.

Whitehaven reported record quarterly production at its Maules Creek mine, which produced 2.9-million tonnes of RoM coal while saleable coal production reached 2.4-million tonnes, which was marginally lower than the previous corresponding period.

RoM production from Maules Creek was up 13% on the full year, while saleable coal production was up 8%, with the mine operating at an annualised rate of 11.7-million tonnes.

At Narrabri, RoM coal production for the quarter was down 29%, to 1.1-million tonnes, with 878 000 t of saleable coal produced. For the full year, RoM production at Narrabri was down 13%, and saleable coal production was down 16%, as both the June quarter and the second half of the financial year were impacted by a series of longwall face mechanism issues, and by localized weighting events.

The Gunnedah opencut operations performed strongly in the June quarter, with production higher than expected.

A total of 1.7-million tonnes of RoM coal was produced from the Tarrawonga, Rocglen and Werris Creek mines, and the rehabilitation programme at Sunnyside, with 1.4-million tonnes of saleable coal also produced.

In the full year, the Gunnedah operations delivered 5.6-million tonnes of RoM coal and 5.3-million tonnes of saleable coal.