By Dan Lowrey
Global diversified miner Anglo American plc said production of export metallurgical coal rose 13% to almost 4.6 million tonnes during the fourth quarter of 2012 compared to the year-ago period, driven by strong longwall performance at Queensland operations and productivity increases at its Canadian mine.
The world's third-largest exporter of met coal on Jan. 25 said production at it Moranbah mine in Queensland increased 55% compared to the third quarter of 2012, driven by longwall productivity.
In Canada, the company's Peace River Coal operation increased production 43% compared to the third quarter due to a combination of productivity improvements and upgrades to the coal handling and preparation plant.
All the company's met coal export open-cut operations achieved full-year site records for production of saleable tons, Anglo said.
Anglo said its Grosvenor met coal project in Queensland is progressing, with longwall production expected to be achieved in 2016.
The company also produces thermal coal out of Australia. There, export thermal coal grew 6% from the year-ago quarter, to 1.7 million tons, while domestic sales of thermal coal production grew 15%, to 2 million tons.
Anglo operates six mines in Australia – one wholly owned and five in which it has a controlling interest. Five of the mines — Moranbah North, Capcoal, Foxleigh, Dawson and Callide — are in Queensland. Drayton is in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales.
At its South African mines, Anglo reported that fourth-quarter production of export thermal coal rose 5%, to 4.7 million tonnes.
Anglo also owns a one-third interest in the massive Cerrejón export thermal coal mine in Colombia. That mine achieved a record production of 11.5 million tonnes for Anglo in 2012. In the fourth quarter, however, Anglo's share of Cerrejón production slipped 3%, to 2.7 million tonnes.Cerrejón's production performance for the quarter decreased marginally as a result of the higher volume of waste removal, Anglo said. For the full year, improved weather conditions helped Cerrejón to achieve record production.