Hunter coal production strong, sales down slightly: Coal &amp&semicolan#38&semicolan Allied

<p>Coal production in the Hunter Valley has increased but quarterly sales have dropped, according to figures released yesterday (Wednesday, July 19) from the region’s major miner Coal &#38 Allied.</p> <p>It comes after average waiting times at the port of Newcastle, the Hunter Valley’s coal exporting port, this month increased to about nine days.</p> <p>The Coal &#38 Allied figures, which plot production and sales for the three months to June 30, were recorded before the doubling of the port’s waiting times since the second last week of June.</p> <p>Coal &#38 Allied’s total coal production from its five operations was up by 11%, to 7.6m tonnes, since the first quarter ending in March. </p> <p>Production was 12% higher, up from 6.8m tonnes, compared with the same quarter last year.</p> <p>Thermal coal production from the company’s 100%-owned Hunter Valley Operations was up by 25%, from 2.4m tonnes for the same quarter last year to 3.1m tonnes this year. </p> <p>The news will please the company’s Japanese and Korean thermal coal customers, and parent-company Rio Tinto, which owns a 76% stake in Coal &#38 Allied.</p> <p>Total sales were up from the same quarter in 2005, but down compared with the first half of 2005.</p> <p>The company sold 14.4m tonnes of coal in the first half of 2005, dropping to 14.1m this year.</p> <p>Coal &#38 Allied said the lower sales were in line with shipment allocations that the port’s coal terminal operator, Port Waratah Coal Services (PWCS), has maintained. </p> <p>Coal &#38 Allied owns a 37% stake in PWCS.</p> <p>The healthy production figures spurred the port of Newcastle towards a possible record monthly coal output in July. </p> <p>PWCS said if the present level of exports in July continue, it would be on track for an output of more than 90m this year.</p> <p>The port exported 80.3m tonnes of coal in 2005&#4706. </p> <p>Meanwhile, in second quarter results released yesterday, Rio Tinto said its overall thermal coal production was up by 6%. </p> <p>Production at its Comalco alumina refinery was also up, recording a 25% jump since March on the back of ramping up its operation intensity.</p> <p>Iron ore production for the quarter was up by 4%, to 33.3m tonnes, compared with the same quarter in 2005.</p> <br />