WHITEHAVEN COAL LIMITED 
By Whitehaven Coal Limited
Quarterly Report to 31 December 2011
2011 DECEMBER QUARTER HIGHLIGHTSThousands of tonnes |
ROM Coal Production - 100% |
Saleable Coal Production - 100% |
Total Coal Sales - 100% |
Saleable Coal Production - Equity |
Total Coal Sales - Equity |
• Whitehaven continued its open cut expansion during the
December quarter with ROM coal production of 1.209 million
tonnes (Mt) on a 100% basis, up 10% on the previous
corresponding period, and saleable coal production of 1.11 Mt
up 2% on the same corresponding period.
• Coal sales for the December quarter were 1.427 Mt (100%
basis), down 22% on the previous corresponding period. Sales
comprised 1.046 Mt of produced coal and 0.381 Mt of purchased
coal. Export sales comprised 0.306 Mt of metallurgical coal
and 1.067 Mt of thermal coal, with domestic thermal coal
sales of 0.054 Mt.
• Legacy contract deliveries in the December quarter totalled
0.329 Mt, with a further 0.5 Mt settled from purchase of coal
or cash settlement. This leaves around 0.33 Mt of legacy
contracts remaining, to be delivered in the March quarter of
2012, in line with management's expectations.
• The open cut mines produced at an annual rate of 4 Mtpa of
saleable coal in the December quarter. Production was
adversely affected by the interruption of explosives
deliveries following the Orica plant shutdown in Newcastle,
with consequential changes in mining sequences at most mines,
and adverse weather in November and December.
• NSW Government approvals for the extension of the Rocglen
and Werris Creek open cut mines have been received, allowing
maximum resource extraction. In the case of Werris Creek, the
new approval allows production of up to 2.5 Mtpa for 20
years.
• Narrabri underground development continued during the
December quarter with four continuous miners operating and a
total of 98,000 tonnes (Kt) of ROM coal produced in the
quarter - an annualised rate of 400 Ktpa. Since commencement,
a total of 437 Kt has been produced from Narrabri to the end
of December.
Whitehaven Coal Limited - Quarterly Report to 31 December 2011 (Q2 FY 2012) 1
• Narrabri mining conditions and development productivity
remain good. However, Narrabri continues to experience
difficulty in recruiting sufficient experienced underground
miners and contractors to fully utilise its four development
mining units. This has resulted in a shortfall of development
against plan year to date of approximately 509 metres at the
end of December.
• As reported in September, if performance continues at
current rates, the shortfall in development metres against
plan is likely to result in longwall production commencing in
mid to late April.
• Narrabri continues to successfully drain in-seam gas (85%
CO2) to levels below the threshold required for continuous
mining. Confidence in the gas drainage model continues to
grow as experience builds. A program of surface to in-seam
(SIS) and underground in-seam (UIS) drilling is continuing
and a substantial inventory of drained coal is being
established.
• Delivery of longwall equipment to site is on schedule with
the machine now 97% complete on site. Commissioning on site
is 98% complete. Construction of Stage 2 surface facilities
including the CHPP and other ancillary works is nearing
completion and remains on budget. The ventilation shaft and
fans have reached completion and are under performance
testing.
• The new NCIG port continues to ramp up and Whitehaven has
been able to utilise most of its share of this new capacity.
Construction of the second stage (2AA) of NCIG is well
advanced and is on time and budget for commissioning in
mid-2012, taking capacity to 53 Mtpa.
• The final stage of NCIG (2F) was committed during the
September quarter and construction is now underway for
commissioning in mid-2013. This will take the port to its
full capacity of 66
Mtpa by late 2013, of which Whitehaven's share will be
approximately 6 Mtpa. Whitehaven also has a rolling 10 year
port contract with PWCS for 3.6 Mtpa. Following extension of
the
Tarrawonga JV, Idemitsu will contribute 30% of Tarrawonga
port capacity, giving Whitehaven access to a total of
approximately 10 Mtpa of Newcastle port capacity (100%
basis).
• Whitehaven has also secured a total of 8.4 Mt in additional
port capacity at Newcastle, spread over the period May 2012
to June 2016. This additional capacity covers the majority of
planned growth in Whitehaven's coal exports during the
period prior to the planned commissioning of the PWCS T4
facility, scheduled for late 2015. Following commitment of
the final stage of the NCIG port, Whitehaven nominated to
PWCS for additional capacity entitlements and was notified
during the quarter that it was successful with these
nominations.
• Rail capacity is continuing to increase with the
Whitehaven-owned coal train being fully utilised and two
additional new Pacific National (PN) trains now operational.
Trials are progressing well to increase new train size from
72 wagons to 82 wagons. This would increase train size from
5,400 tonnes to 6,150 tonnes (+14%) with enhanced utilisation
of track capacity.
• Cash on hand at 31 December was $104 million.
• The Group refinanced its existing syndicated bank facility
last quarter. The new bank facilities have a five year tenor
and provide Whitehaven with lines of credit up to A$350
million for working capital and general corporate
purposes.
• In addition, the Group put in place a short term A$450
million facility in December for general corporate purposes.
Whitehaven Coal Limited - Quarterly Report to 31 December 2011 (Q2 FY 2012) 2
• Whitehaven had a total of approximately US$204m in forward US$/A$ exchange contracts at the end of December, at an average exchange rate of AUD 1.00 = US$ 0.9465.
COAL SALES
Total coal sales of 1.427 Mt for the December quarter (100%
basis) decreased by 22% over the previous corresponding
period, with sales of 1.046 Mt of produced coal and 0.381 Mt
of purchased coal.
Coal purchases were necessary in the December quarter,
however at a much lower rate than the same period last year
as production improved, despite the plant shutdown by Orica
in Newcastle and the impact on explosive supplies to the
mines.
Low metallurgical coal sales of 0.306 Mt for the December
quarter reflected the negative impact on mining sequences
from the disruption to explosive supplies at all mines and a
delay in a PCI shipment of 53 Kt which was scheduled to load
in late December but did not load until early January.
The metallurgical coal price ex-Newcastle (Semi-Soft/PCI) for
the December 2011 quarter has been set at approximately
US$179/t. After including delivery of carry-over tonnage from
the December quarter, Whitehaven expects to achieve an
average of approximately US$184/t in the March quarter.
Export thermal coal sales were 1.067 Mt for the December
quarter, including sales of 0.347 Mt of purchased coal. In
addition, 0.415 Mt of legacy contracts were cash settled
during the quarter.
Japanese term contract prices for thermal coal have been
fixed at around US$124/t for the new Japanese fiscal year
(April 2011 to March 2012), while the current spot price for
Newcastle thermal coal is around US$115/t FOB.
Whitehaven's open cut mines (Tarrawonga, Werris Creek,
Rocglen and Sunnyside) experienced minor impact from wet
weather in the December quarter. In addition, planned mining
was interrupted and the production of coal reduced due to the
reduction in explosives deliveries as a result of the Orica
plant shutdown in Newcastle. This resulted in the open cut
mines producing at an annual rate of approximately 4 Mtpa of
saleable coal in the December quarter, substantially below
planned levels.
Following a significant upgrade to coal resources and
reserves and the extension of the Tarrawonga Joint Venture,
an application has been lodged for modification to the
existing Project Approval for Tarrawonga. This would allow
production to increase from 2 Mtpa to 3 Mtpa and would cover
mining of the full JORC reserve over more than 15 years.
A revised Project Approval has now been received from the NSW
Minister for Planning for extension of the Werris Creek mine
life, to cover the full JORC reserve at up to 2.5 Mtpa over
20 years.
Approval has also been received from the Minister for
Planning to modify the Rocglen Project
Approval to take account of modified geological information.
Whitehaven Coal Limited - Quarterly Report to 31 December 2011 (Q2 FY 2012) 3
NARRABRI DEVELOPMENT
Development of the Narrabri mine is proceeding with
construction of Stage 2 facilities and delivery of longwall
and other equipment on schedule and budget. The Narrabri CHPP
plant is complete and being commissioned. The construction of
the upgraded ventilation fans and new shaft are complete and
being performance tested.
Pre-drainage of CO2 from the coal seam is working well with
an inventory of drained coal now in place and confidence in
gas extraction methods and gas modelling continuing to grow
with experience.
Development of the main gate and tail gate roads for the
first longwall panel is on the critical path for commencement
of longwall mining. Mining conditions underground are
excellent and development rates have improved as skills and
experience has grown and as development has moved away from
pit-bottom setup into normal main road and longwall gate road
development.
However, weekly development advance continues to be hampered
by the lack of availability of skilled underground miners.
This is preventing full utilisation of the four continuous
miner units which are available and has resulted in a
shortfall of approximately 509 metres against first half year
plan to December 2011.
An additional contractor, SBD-Delta, is currently operating
with experienced people to supplement development at Narrabri
while Narrabri employees are trained for longwall operation.
This will provide additional experienced people for
development. However, as previously reported, if performance
continues at the current rate, longwall commissioning is
expected in mid to late April.
Narrabri development produced 98 Kt of ROM coal during the
December quarter, an annualised with a total of 410 Kt of
coal having been produced from Narrabri up to the end of
December. Sales of more than 386 Kt of Narrabri coal have now
been made with coal stockpiling and handling systems working
well and coal quality meeting expectations.
Ongoing review of Stage 2 costs, including tendering for all
major components of the work, has not identified any change
to the budget capital cost estimate of approximately $300
million (100% basis).
Work continued at Vickery during the December quarter with
further drilling in the area to assist in confirming the
geological model in conjunction with previous drilled bore
hole information. The initial mine planning has generated a
pit design which produces 164 Mt of ROM coal at a stripping
ratio of 10:1. Of this, 129 Mt is to JORC standard, with
drilling underway to upgrade the remainder.
Work is progressing to define an open- cut mine plan for
Vickery to produce around 4.5 Mtpa ROM
for more than 25 years with a stripping ratio of
approximately 10:1.
With Tarrawonga coal to be processed and railed from the new
Idemitsu Boggabri plant in future, Whitehaven's Gunnedah CHPP
and rail loading facilities will become available for
Vickery. The development plan for Vickery is therefore to
truck ROM coal to Gunnedah CHPP for processing and loading,
as occurs at present. This results in an efficient use of
existing infrastructure and a relatively low capital cost of
development for Vickery.
Whitehaven Coal Limited - Quarterly Report to 31 December 2011 (Q2 FY 2012) 4
Ongoing analysis of Vickery coal quality indicates that, if
all ROM coal is washed, saleable coal yield would be more
than 80% of predominantly low ash, low sulphur, and low
phosphorus semi- soft coking coal. This saleable coal yield
can be increased significantly by by-passing a proportion of
low-ash ROM coal, as is done with Whitehaven's Tarrawonga
coal. This will provide the Vickery project with a high
degree of flexibility in producing metallurgical or premium
thermal coal, depending on market conditions from time to
time.
The project's Preliminary Environmental Assessment (PEA) was
lodged on 4 November, 2011 including a request for Director
General Requirements from the department of Planning and
Infrastructure which have been subsequently received.
Whitehaven plans to lodge an application for Project Approval
for Vickery open cut in the first half of calendar 2012, with
the aim of obtaining approval and being in a position to
commence mine production in the second half of calendar
2013.
Whitehaven has entitlements to adequate rail track capacity
to meet its current growth plans and is continuing to work
with ARTC and other potential rail users in the Gunnedah
Basin to identify and progress capital works required to meet
future track capacity needs.
Whitehaven and PN entered into a long-term agreement for rail
haulage in December 2009. When combined with track capacity
entitlements, this contract provides for rail capacity to
meet Whitehaven's existing growth plans and port
capacity.
The new coal train ordered by Whitehaven in 2009 was
delivered and put into service in the September 2010 quarter.
This train is being operated by PN under lease from
Whitehaven. A second new train was delivered by PN in January
2011 and a third new train was delivered in October 2011.
A Capacity Framework Agreement for providing access to
additional port capacity at Newcastle was agreed by Newcastle
Ports Corporation, PWCS and NCIG in April 2009 and
subsequently approved by ACCC. Under this agreement,
Whitehaven will have access to approximately 10 Mtpa of port
capacity from PWCS and NCIG.
Stage 1 of the new NCIG coal loading terminal (Whitehaven
owns 11%) is continuing to ramp up to its 30 Mtpa capacity.
Construction of the second stage (2AA) of NCIG is progressing
on time and budget for commissioning in mid-2012, taking the
capacity of NCIG to 53 Mtpa. The final stage of NCIG (2F) was
committed to in August and is expected to be commissioned in
June 2013. This will take the port to its full capacity of 66
Mtpa, with Whitehaven's share being approximately 6 Mtpa. As
previously announced, Whitehaven has secured a total of 8.4
Mt in additional port capacity at Newcastle, spread over the
period May 2012 to June 2016. This additional capacity covers
the majority of planned growth in Whitehaven's coal
exports during the period prior to the planned commissioning
of the PWCS T4 facility, scheduled for late 2015.
A revised JORC coal Resources and Reserves statement for
Whitehaven was released in August
2011 and can be viewed on the Whitehaven web site at www.whitehavencoal.com.au.
Whitehaven Coal Limited - Quarterly Report to 31 December 2011 (Q2 FY 2012) 5
CORPORATE
Cash on hand at 31 December was $104 million. This cash,
together with outstanding cash to be received from previously
announced sales of the Narrabri JV interests and cash from
operations is expected to provide sufficient funding to
complete the development of Narrabri and the expansion of
Whitehaven's existing open-cut mines.
The Group refinanced its existing syndicated bank facility
last quarter with a series of long-term bilateral facilities
put in place with a number of Australian and foreign
financial institutions. The new bank facilities have a five
year tenor and provide Whitehaven with lines of credit up to
A$350 million for working capital and general corporate
purposes. In addition, the Group put in place a short term
A$450 million facility in December for general corporate
purposes.
The new facilities recognise Whitehaven's strong credit
quality and growth prospects and will support Whitehaven's
endeavours to further develop and realise the value from its
existing world class coal assets.
Whitehaven had a total of approximately US$204million in
forward US$/A$ exchange contracts at the end of December, at
an average rate of 0.9465 US$:A$. The hedging profile at the
end of December is:
Currency Hedging at 31/12/11 | FY 2012 FY 2013 Total | |
Principal US$m | 204 - 204 | |
Rate US$/A$ | 0.9465 - 0.9465 |
Detailed production results for the December 2011 quarter for Whitehaven Coal Limited (ASX: WHC) and its controlled entities are set out in the following tables.
Whitehaven Coal Limited - Quarterly Report to 31 December 2011 (Q2 FY 2012) 6
Thousands of tonnes
Gunnedah Operations (100%)
ROM Coal Production |
Saleable Coal Production |
Sales of Produced Coal |
Sales of Purchased Coal** |
Total Coal Sales |
Coal Stocks at period end |
Werris Creek (100%)
ROM Coal Production |
Saleable Coal Production |
Sales of Produced Coal |
Sales of Purchased Coal** |
Total Coal Sales |
Coal Stocks at period end |
Narrabri (100%)
ROM Coal Production |
Saleable Coal Production |
Sales of Produced Coal |
Sales of Purchased Coal** |
Total Coal Sales |
Coal Stocks at period end |
ROM Coal Production |
Saleable Coal Production |
Sales of Produced Coal |
Sales of Purchased Coal** |
Total Coal Sales |
Coal Stocks at period end |
Whitehaven Coal Limited - Quarterly Report to 31 December 2011 (Q2 FY 2012) 7
Thousands of tonnes
Gunnedah Operations (Equity Share)
ROM Coal Production |
Saleable Coal Production |
Sales of Produced Coal |
Sales of Purchased Coal** |
Total Coal Sales |
Coal Stocks at period end |
Werris Creek (100% Owned)
ROM Coal Production |
Saleable Coal Production |
Sales of Produced Coal |
Sales of Purchased Coal** |
Total Coal Sales |
Coal Stocks at period end |
Narrabri (Equity Share)
ROM Coal Production |
Saleable Coal Production |
Sales of Produced Coal |
Sales of Purchased Coal** |
Total Coal Sales |
Coal Stocks at period end |
ROM Coal Production |
Saleable Coal Production |
Sales of Produced Coal |
Sales of Purchased Coal** |
Total Coal Sales |
Coal Stocks at period end |
** s a l es of externa l l y purcha s ed coa l
Whitehaven Coal Limited - ASX Quarterly - 31 Dec 2011
For further information, please contact:
Tony Haggarty - Managing Director Tel: 02 8248 1257
KateWKheitreri hsoanve-nK CaotealKLe irmrisitoen d+-CQoumaprtaenryly Report to 3T1eDl: e0c4e1m3 b94e6r 2700141 (Q2 FY 2012) 8
Email: kate@katekerrison.com.au8
MERGER WITH ASTON RESOURCES AND ACQUISITION OF BOARDWALK RESOURCES
On 12 December 2011 Whitehaven and Aston Resources Limited
('Aston') announced a merger of equals to create a leading
independent Australian coal company. Under the merger
proposal Aston shareholders will receive 1.89 Whitehaven
shares for each Aston share they hold, following distribution
of a fully franked special dividend of $0.50 per share to
existing Whitehaven shareholders. The merger is to be
implemented by way of an Aston Scheme of Arrangement.
The merger with Aston is subject to a number of conditions,
including Aston shareholder and court approvals. The proposed
merger has the unanimous support of both the Aston and
Whitehaven Boards. Aston's largest shareholder, a Tinkler
Group affiliate, holding approximately 32% of Aston shares,
has indicated its intention to vote in favour of the
transaction in the absence of a superior proposal. It is
expected the merger will be implemented in April 2012.
Whitehaven has entered into separate agreements to acquire
all of the shares and other issued securities in unlisted
coal explorer Boardwalk Resources ('Boardwalk'). Boardwalk
investors will be issued 85.88 million Whitehaven shares as
consideration for the acquisition and an additional
34.02 million Whitehaven shares which will vest if certain
milestones in the development of the assets are met. The
Boardwalk acquisition is conditional upon the
Aston/Whitehaven merger
completing and other customary conditions. As part of the
transaction, Boardwalk shareholders will
contribute $150 million in cash to Boardwalk which will be
used for the ongoing development of its assets. Boardwalk
also has existing debt of US$50 million. It is expected that
the Boardwalk
Transaction will complete in April 2012.
Further detail on the proposed Aston merger and Boardwalk
acquisition can be found in the 12
December 2011 announcement and presentation which are posted
on Whitehaven's website:
(www.whitehaven.net.au)
Whitehaven Coal Limited - Quarterly Report to 31 December 2011 (Q2 FY 2012) 9
| distribué par | Ce noodl a été diffusé par Whitehaven Coal Limited et initialement mise en ligne sur le site http://www.whitehaven.net.au. La version originale est disponible ici. Ce noodl a été distribué par noodls dans son format d'origine et sans modification sur 2012-01-25 03:19:33 AM et restera accessible depuis ce lien permanent. Cette annonce est protégée par les règles du droit d'auteur et toute autre loi applicable, et son propriétaire est seul responsable de sa véracité et de son originalité. |
| Documents associés | |
| 25/01/2012 - December Quarterly Report 2011 |
