Coal Age Magazine - For more than 100 years, Coal Age has been the magazine that readers can trust for guidance and insight on this important industry.
Issue link: https://coal.epubxp.com/i/943908
Janaury/February 2018 www.coalage.com 5 news continued w o r l d n e w s Australian Met Coal Production Dips A number of Australian metallurgical coal exporters have recently signaled that they have suffered production setbacks and are ex- pecting lower output for fiscal year 2018. In its most recent production report, BHP said metallurgical coal production for the half-year ending in December decreased by 4% to 20 million metric tons (mt). The company's guidance for fiscal year 2018 has been revised from 44 million to 46 million mt down to 41 million to 43 million mt, which reflects lower volumes now expected at Broadmeadow and Blackwater mines. BHP's Queensland-based coal production was lower due to the impacts of ongoing challenging roof conditions at Broadmeadow and geotechnical issues brought on by wet weather at Blackwater, the company said. This was partially offset by record production at South Walker Creek, Saraji, Caval Ridge and Daunia, underpinned by improved truck and shovel performance, utilization of latent drag- line capacity at Caval Ridge and increased wash-plant feed rates. The company said its Caval Ridge Southern Circuit project is progressing according to plan, with production expected to ramp up early in fiscal year 2019. Anglo American reported less metallurgical coal production from its Australian operations for 2017. Total met production decreased to 21.3 million mt from 22.7 million mt. The compa- ny said the Grosvenor ramp-up and record productivity levels at underground operations were offset by the removal of higher cost volumes at Dawson. During the fourth quarter, Anglo American's export metallur- gical coal production decreased by 8% to 4.9 million mt due to an extended longwall move at Grosvenor and lower production at Dawson. The Dawson mine was reconfigured at the end of 2016 to remove higher cost volumes and, in the fourth quarter of 2017, was transitioning to a new mining area. This was partially offset by an increase in production at Grasstree, which experienced geological issues and a longwall move in the fourth quarter of 2016. Grosvenor completed its first longwall panel during the fourth quarter of 2017, which was followed by an extended longwall move to rectify component defects identified during the first panel. For the half-year ending in December, Perth-based South32 re- ported a decrease in coking coal production to 1.3 million mt from 2.8 million mt during the same period one year ago. The company restarted a single longwall at the Appin colliery during mid-October. Saleable production from Illawarra Metallurgical Coal de- creased by 50% (or 1.9 million mt) to 1.9 million mt in the December half-year as the Appin colliery recovered from the extended outage and the Dendrobium longwall progressed through a faulted zone. The company said it remains on track to produce 4.5 million mt of coal at Illawarra during this fiscal year, even with a longwall move scheduled for the Dendrobium mine in the March quarter. Operations at Elkview Mine Are Suspended Teck Resources Ltd. announced on January 19 that a significant pressure event had interrupted operations in the coal dryer at Teck's Elkview mine in British Columbia, Canada, which produces metallur- gical grade coal. A preliminary damage assessment has determined that repairs to the dryer may take in the range of four to six weeks. In the interim, Elkview is producing higher moisture met coals at approximately 80% of planned production levels. To manage the overall moisture level of the product, the company is coordinating production with its other operations in the Elk Valley and blending the higher moisture coal with dry finished coal inventory and dry coal Continued on p. 6... top 10 coal-producing states ing operations while at least one, Indiana's Blankenberger Brothers, was hoping to advance plans this year for a new underground mine that could produce as much as 3 million tons per year (tpy). And, Paringa Resources was preparing for the start of production midyear at its new Poplar Grove underground mine in western Kentucky. Alliance Resource Partners, the largest producer in the high-sulfur ILB, received a final permit from the Illinois De- partment of Natural Resources' Office of Mines and Minerals in December to tunnel under the Wabash River from south- western Indiana to access coal reserves on the other side in Wabash County, Illinois. The permit issued to Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Alliance covers approximately 3,200 "shadow acres." It does not, however, autho- rize Alliance's Gibson County Coal subsidiary to construct a new portal on the Illinois side of the river. The company must access the coal from the Indiana side. Alliance/Gibson are not expected to begin the mining any- time soon. That is because the company first wants to reopen its long-idled Gibson North underground mine near Princeton in Gibson County that controls the Wabash County reserves. Alli- ance has not announced a restart timetable for Gibson North. Currently, the company is mining only at its Gibson South deep mine in Gibson County. Gibson South and Gibson North are about a mile apart. Gibson South is one of the largest coal mines in Indiana, pro- ducing 4.4 million tons of coal in the first three quarters of 2017. It is a continuous miner operation. Hallador Energy's Sunrise Coal subsidiary also aspires to mine beneath the Wabash River to reach coal reserves in southeastern Illinois from its Oaktown underground mines in Knox County, In- diana. The two Oaktown mines were expected to produce in ex- cess of 5 million tons in 2017. Meanwhile, an expansion is planned in 2018 at the Liberty surface mine in Warrick County, Indiana, according to a spokes- man for Alcoa, owner of the extensive coal reserves. Liberty is operated by White Stallion Energy, which acquired Evans- ville, Indiana-based Vigo Coal two years ago. Liberty supplies coal to Alcoa's 755-megawatt power plant near the company's sprawl- ing Warrick Operations near Yankeetown. Alcoa is in the process (in Thousand Short Tons) Week Ending (12/31/17) YTD '17 YTD '16 % Change Wyoming 321,184,866 297,218,132 8.1 West Virginia 90,014,712 79,823,086 12.8 Pennsylvania 52,249,130 45,885,226 13.9 Illinois 46,476,042 43,575,247 6.7 Texas 44,552,846 39,000,584 14.2 Kentucky 41,999,652 42,880,941 -2.1 Montana 32,993,315 32,335,656 2.0 North Dakota 31,689,678 28,120,859 12.7 Indiana 31,499,890 28,766,705 9.5 Utah 15,397,632 13,969,934 10.2 U.S. Total 786,925,182 728,364,498 8.0