PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Coal miner Yancoal has reported another tough first-half as the global coal market remained oversupplied and both thermal and metallurgical coal prices remained depressed.

The ASX-listed company on Thursday reported a net loss after tax of A$145.4-million for the six months ended June 30, compared with the net loss of A$192.7-million reported in the previous corresponding period.

Total run-of-mine (RoM) and saleable coal production for the interim period was 12.9-million tonnes and 9.4-million tonnes respectively, compared with the 13.3-million tonnes and 9.5-million tonnes reported for the same period in 2014.

Revenues for the six months under review declined to A$634.3-million, compared with the A$654.5-million reported in the interim period of last year.

“While we have overcome significant geological conditions at our underground operations to achieve a strong production result for the reporting period, our operations have not been immune to the significant impacts of the negative operating environment,” said Yancoal CEO Reinhold Schmidt.

“Flat coal prices and global market oversupply, aided by the ongoing impact of take-or-pay arrangements, have forced our New South Wales operations to reduce their employee numbers in recent months.”

Schmidt said the redundancies had a major impact on the local communities and, while steps were taken to redeploy some staff members to other operations, the company had been unable to maintain its employee numbers.

Looking ahead, Schmidt said Yancoal would remain focused on controlling costs and restructuring its operations to optimise product mix, maximise yield and pursue new marketing synergies where possible.

“The recent approval of the tier-one low-cost Moolarben Stage 2 project is a positive opportunity for Yancoal to build a premier asset within New South Wales, with the potential to generate further employment and investment opportunities within the Mid Western region,” he added.

Yancoal had been given the go-ahead to extract up to 12-million tonnes a year of RoM coal from three opencut and one underground mine at the Moolarben mine. The Stage 2 development was expected to expand the mining operation further east and would entail the development of two additional underground mines and one opencut operation. An additional 16-million tonnes of RoM coal a year would be extracted for a period of 24 years.

Yancoal has maintained its production guidance of between 15-million tonnes and 15.5-million tonnes of saleable production for the full year to December 31.