C&amp&semicolan#38&semicolanA production slows as new system is prepared

<p>Coal &#38 Allied’s Hunter Valley coal production fell slightly between June and September as coal producers prepare to move to take or pay shipments through the port of Newcastle from next year. </p> <p>C&#38A, owned by Rio Tinto, said a 550,000-tonne drop in production in the quarter ending September 30 was in line with port and rail allocations.</p> <p>The loss of coal production also affected parent company Rio Tinto’s nine-month figures, which showed a loss of 1.3m tonnes of hard coking coal, compared with the first nine months of 2005.</p> <p>Rio’s other coal types remained steady at 23.3m tonnes for the first nine months of 2006.</p> <p>Production across C&#38A’s four mines was steady, at 7.1m tonnes, compared with the same period last year, but fell from 7.6m tonnes recorded in the second quarter.</p> <p>Most of the loss came from the company’s Hunter Valley Operations, near Singleton, which saw a drop of 700,000 tonnes in its thermal coal production between the second and third quarters. </p> <p>Increased thermal coal from the company’s Bengalla and Warkworth mines made up some of the tonnage.</p> <p>The Hunter Valley coal network is set to undergo physical and legislative changes over the coming months as increased rail and port capacity comes on stream and the port’s capacity balancing system (CBS) is scrapped from January 1.</p> <p>Coal companies collectively voted not to use the system next year, bringing an end to the quota arrangement that had rationed quarterly port capacity to coal miners.</p> <p>The Hunter coal network will expand to be handling more than 102m tonnes each year by the middle of next year, up from about 86m tonnes of capacity available this year.</p> <p>Meanwhile, Rio Tinto reported solid gains in its iron ore production, which increased by 10% since the second quarter.</p> <p>Iron ore production reached 36.7m tonnes for the quarter, up from 33.3m tonnes last quarter and from 31.1m tonnes this time last year.</p> <p>Uranium production recovered from less than 1,000 tonnes last quarter, to 1,344 tonnes in the third quarter but remains down on the 1,747 tonnes mined in the same quarter last year.</p> <br />