JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – JSE-listed Buffalo Coal’s second-quarter coal output has been hit by flooding at one of its operations and a fatality at another.
In the three months to September 30, the company’s operations delivered total run-of-mine (RoM) production of 377 000 t, a decline when compared with the 446 000 t produced in the three months ended August 2013.
The company, which shifted its financial year-end to December, reported a monthly average RoM production of 126 000 t – a 15.5% drop when compared with the August quarter last year.
“The flooding incident at [the] Magdalena underground [operation] and the tragic fatality at Aviemore in September have had a significant impact on achieving the targeted production levels for September and October 2014, and a consequent impact on sales and cash flows,” Buffalo said.
Magdalena delivered 258 000 t of underground and opencast production during the revised second quarter to September, compared with the 322 000 t produced in the then-second-quarter of the year to August 2013.
The flooding incident had dragged Magdalena’s monthly average RoM production from 107 000 t to 86 000 t during the period under review.
“Aviemore continues to perform in line with historic and budgeted performance levels; however, production in September was down due to the fatality at the mine, which resulted in production being halted for a week,” the company explained.
RoM production from Aviemore fell from 124 000 t in the three months to August, to 119 000 t in the period to September, with the mine’s monthly output falling marginally to 40 000 t.
Meanwhile, saleable coal production for the quarter under review dropped to 227 000 t, while the monthly average saleable production declined 8.3% to 76 000 t.
Total second-quarter bituminous coal and anthracite product sales reached 271 000 t during the three months to September, with the company reporting monthly average sales of 90 000 t.