By Vanessa Zhou

October 21, 2020 - Coronado Global Resources has delivered an all-around rise in coal output during the September quarter as chief executive Gerry Spindler pointed to the company’s under-reliance on China.

Strong performance at the Curragh mine in Queensland led to the company’s 31 percent jump in saleable production to 4.6 million tonnes on the previous quarter.

Coronado also hit record quarterly production at Curragh with 3.6 million tonnes, a 25 percent jump on the June quarter.

Image: Coronado Global Resources

The company also achieved record sales volumes of 3.6 million tonnes, thanks to a 21 percent rise on the previous period.

“This excellent result stemmed from an improvement in mining contract performance as well as the mobilization of additional fleets to recover lost production and overburden from the first half of the year,” Spindler said.

“In addition, CHPP (coal handling and preparation plant) performance improved due to better reliability, higher throughput rates and the implementation of measures to improve yield.”

This performance was complemented by the restart of Coronado’s operations in the United States, with production ramping up in line with recovery in metallurgical coal markets.

Spindler said metallurgical coal index pricing had climbed by around 30 percent off its August lows.

“Numerous blast furnaces restarted in response to increasing demand from the automotive and construction sectors,” the chief executive said in the company’s September quarterly report.

“The trend of blast furnaces restarts is evident in seaborne metallurgical coal reliant markets such as India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil and Europe.”

Meanwhile in China, uncertainties remain around the rumoured suspension of Australian coal imports.

This is expected to cast minimal impact on Coronado, with Spindler stating that it had no term volume contracts with Chinese counterparts and “only sell into this market sporadically.”

The company’s immunity is strengthened by its United States operations, which will continue to ship cargoes to China during the quarter.