London (Platts)--26Nov2012/745 am EST/1245 GMT
Continental Coal said Monday it had achieved first thermal coal production from the Penumbra coal mine in South Africa's Limpopo province and expects sales of high quality coal standard RB1 export thermal coal product to begin in December. The South African-focused producer said in a statement it expects run of mine (ROM) production of 5,000-10,000 mt for the December quarter, with a targeted production rate of 63,000 mt/month by mid-2013. It said that it is still continuing decline development at the C-Upper and C-Lower Coal Seams and should start full scale underground mining before the end of this month and into December. The miner also noted that first saleable export thermal coal should be produced this month after the ROM coal, which has been stockpiled at the mine, is processed through the existing wash plant at the nearby Delta Processing Operations. Article continues below...Request a free trial of: International Coal ReportInternational Coal Report and its daily companion, Coal Trader International, deliver expert and respected price assessments for coal trading in the Atlantic and Pacific markets including price assessments for European CIF ARA, FOB Newcastle, Richards Bay and Indonesia.
Continental Coal said Monday it had achieved first thermal coal production from the Penumbra coal mine in South Africa's Limpopo province and expects sales of high quality coal standard RB1 export thermal coal product to begin in December. The South African-focused producer said in a statement it expects run of mine (ROM) production of 5,000-10,000 mt for the December quarter, with a targeted production rate of 63,000 mt/month by mid-2013. It said that it is still continuing decline development at the C-Upper and C-Lower Coal Seams and should start full scale underground mining before the end of this month and into December. The miner also noted that first saleable export thermal coal should be produced this month after the ROM coal, which has been stockpiled at the mine, is processed through the existing wash plant at the nearby Delta Processing Operations.
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International Coal Report and its daily companion, Coal Trader International, deliver expert and respected price assessments for coal trading in the Atlantic and Pacific markets including price assessments for European CIF ARA, FOB Newcastle, Richards Bay and Indonesia.
Continental said that it forecasts annual export thermal coal sales of 500,000 mt/year from Penumbra, with export sales in the 2013 fiscal year totaling 200,000 mt at total FOB costs of Rand 471/mt ($55/mt). Coal from Penumbra will be transported by rail to the Richards Bay Coal Terminal and sold under existing off-take agreements with EDF Trading into the spot market and under existing coal hedging contracts. The Penumbra underground mine is Continental's third operating mine, bringing its combined ROM production rate to 2.8 million mt of export and domestic thermal coal. The mine has Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant saleable reserves of 5.4 million mt and total resources of 68.3 million mt. Penumbra is forecast to produce 750,000 mt/year of ROM coal over an initial 10-year mine life at average total FOB costs of Rand 490/mt.--Jacqueline Holman, jacqueline_holman@platts.com--Edited by Maurice Geller, maurice_geller@platts.com
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