PERTH (miningweekly.com) - Coal miner Whitehaven has told shareholders that earnings for the first six months of the financial year would be less than $10-million, with the company blaming weak coal markets and a strong Australian dollar.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation for the second half of the year would be similar, the miner warned, if coal markets did not improve.

Whitehaven also noted that the net profit after tax for the interim period would be affected by a write-down of low-value coal inventory to net realiseable value, asset adjustments associated with the Sunnyside mine being placed on care and maintenance, and the derailment at Boggabri, which disrupted the Narrabri mine operations during December.

Despite the financial woes, Whitehaven on Thursday reported that run-of-mine (RoM) coal production for the three months to December increased by 96%, compared with the same period last year, to reach 2.3-million tons.

Year-to-date RoM coal production was up 68% on the previous corresponding period, to 4.2-million tons.

Saleable coal production increased by 79% during the quarter under review, to 1.9-million tons, and by 47% during the interim period, to reach 3.6-million tons.

Whitehaven reported that its opencut mines, which include the Tarrawonga, Werris Creek, Rocglen and Sunnyside mines, performed satisfactorily during the quarter, producing some 1.3-million tons of coal.

Since the end of the quarter, the New South Wales Planning Assessment Commission had determined to approve Whitehaven’s Tarrawonga coal mine expansion project, which would expand the mine to a production rate of two- to three-million tons a year, and would extend the project life to 2030.

At the Narrabri operation, Whitehaven ramped-up production, producing just over one-million tons during the second quarter.

Coal sales for the December quarter reached just over two-million tons, up 46% on the previous corresponding period. Sales of purchased coals were down by 70% compared with the previous corresponding period, to 113 000 t.

For the full 2013, Whitehaven was expected to sell some nine-million tons of coal, including around 500 000 t of purchased coal. Sales on an equity basis were expected to be around 7.2-million tons, which was in line with the current broker consensus.

Less than one-million tons of the planned nine-million sales ton was currently uncommitted for 2013, the miner added.