Anglo American: Metallurgical coal production decreased by 32%
According to Anglo American, export metallurgical coal production decreased by 32% to 2.2 million tonnes primarily due to the delayed longwall move at Moranbah owing to challenging geological conditions in the previous panel, as well as the planned end of production at the Grasstree operation in January 2022.
The Aquila life-extension project, which replaces Grasstree, commenced longwall operations on 5 February 2022 and will ramp up during the first half of 2022. At Grosvenor, longwall operations restarted on 21 February 2022 following regulatory approval and will ramp up during the first half of 2022.
Operations at Moranbah were suspended following a fatal incident on 25 March 2022, with preparation activities currently underway for restart at the next panel as planned, subject to approval from the regulator.
The ratio of hard coking coal production to PCI/semi-soft coking coal was 79:21, slightly higher than in Q1 2021 (77:23), due to the restart of operations at Grosvenor, which produces premium quality hard coking coal, as well as lower volumes of PCI coal from Capcoal open cut operations.
The Q1 average realised price for hard coking coal was $373/tonne, and the benchmark price was $488/tonne. The price realisation decreased to 76% (Q1 2021: 89%) due to higher sales earlier in the quarter ahead of the benchmark peak as well as a lower contribution of premium hard coking coal from the underground longwall operations.
2022 GUIDANCE
Production guidance for 2022 is revised to 17-19 million tonnes (previously 20-22 million tonnes), subject to the extent of further Covid-19 related disruptions and the timing of the restart of Moranbah longwall mining operations.
2022 unit cost guidance is revised to c.$105/t (previously c.$85/t), reflecting the impact of lower volumes, the stronger Australian dollar and inflation, primarily higher fuel costs.
