Coal news and updates

Yancoal wins approval to expand Moolarben coal mine

Yancoal, owned by China’s state-owned Yanzhou Coal Mining Co., Ltd., has received final approval to expand its Moolarben coal mine in Australia's New South Wales state, sources reported.

The stage 2 expansion of Moolarben, which produced 3.4 million tonnes of saleable thermal coal from 4.5 million tonnes of raw coal during January-June, would add one open-cut pit and two underground mines.

Yancoal planned to produce coal from the new open-cut pit from mid-2016, and begin development of the new underground mines next year, but will not reveal dates for first coal from these operations.

This annual raw coal output capacity of 9 Mtpa will increase to 13 Mtpa when the stage 2 open-cut pit ramps up to full capacity and to 17 Mtpa once the underground mines come on stream. Total saleable production is forecast to rise to 12 Mtpa of coal once the entire expansion ramps up to full scale.

Yancoal is one of just a few firms currently willing to invest in new thermal coal mining capacity in Australia, with many of the major producers cutting all expansions and trying to sell existing assets amid weak prices and oversupply.

The Moolarben expansion will be funded partly by the $1.8 billion in capital that Yancoal raised at the end of last year. Additional funding will come from Yanzhou Coal Mining.

Australian export thermal coal prices peaked at $130/t FOB Newcastle for 6,000 kcal/kg NAR coal in early 2011, before falling to just $57.90/t at the end of last week.

source: http://en.sxcoal.com