PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Coal miner New Hope has seen its underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) for the quarter ended July nearly double from the quarter ended April.

Underlying Ebitda for the quarter ended July was reported at A$645-million, up from the A$358.6-million in the quarter ended April, as coal prices strengthened further, with final unaudited underlying Ebitda reported at A$1.56-billion, up from the A$913-million in the April quarter.

New Hope this week reported that total run-of-mine coal production in the quarter ended July reached 2.4-million tonnes, up from the 1.9-million tonnes in the April quarter, with full-year production in the year ending July down 27.8% on the 2021 figures, from 14-million to 10.1-million tonnes.

Total saleable coal production for the July quarter reached 1.9-million tonnes, compared with the 1.6-million tonnes recorded in the April quarter. For the full year, saleable coal production was down 17.7%, from 9.5-million tonnes to 7.8-million tonnes.

Total coal sales for the July quarter reached 1.8-million tonnes, in line with the 1.8-million tonnes sold in the April quarter. However, for the full year ended July, total coal sales were down by 12.4%, from 10-million tonnes to 8.8-million tonnes.

New Hope told shareholders higher production was achieved at its Bengalla operation, in New South Wales, despite impacts from uncontrollable adverse weather in July and Covid-19-related labour shortages.

Sales volumes were 5.2% higher than the previous quarter with a significant amount of coal stockpiled owing to Hunter Valley logistics constraints during the month of July. This significant stockpile balance will provide a strong sales runway for the new financial year, the company said.

As a mitigation measure against further weather events, Bengalla purchased additional water discharge credits and was able to undertake controlled discharges during the July major wet weather event. These additional discharges, which occurred within existing approvals have provided significant water storage capacity to the operation in the case of further weather events.

Meanwhile, New Hope is still working with the Queensland government to secure a mining lease and an associated water licence for its New Acland Stage 3 project. While the company is awaiting approvals, the rehabilitation of the Stage 2 mining area continues.

The company is also working on a restart plan to minimise the time to first coal from the Stage 3 operation, to assist in filling unprecedented coal demand.