PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Coal miner New Hope Group has reported a 15.8% drop in production for the quarter ended July, compared with the previous corresponding period, as production at its Queensland operation, including the New Acland mine, fell.
Total saleable coal production in the three months to July reached 2.79-million, down from the 3.31-million tonnes in the same period last year, with total coal sales dropping from 3.33-million tonnes to 2.35-million tonnes in the same period.
Production from New Hope’s New South Wales operations reached 2.8-million tonnes in the quarter, with the miner’s share amounting to 2.2-million tonnes.
Meanwhile, the New Acland mine produced 600 000 t of coal during the quarter, marginally less than the previous quarter, as operations at the Center Pit operations were coming to an end.
The Queensland government continued to defer the approval of the Stage 3 project, citing ongoing legal appeals, with New Hope again warning that inaction by the government would result in further job losses at the site in September, as coal reserves in the existing mining lease area were exhausted.
The miner noted that the Stage 3 project was shovel ready and would create 487 jobs within 18 months of its start, and would secure the future of over 150 employees that were currently working at the mine.
During the quarter under review, New Hope was forced to make 23 redundancies at its corporate office and Queensland Bulk Handling operation, with the remaining workforce moving to a nine-day fortnight, and taking a 10% pay-cut.