South32 sells Australian Illawarra met coal operations

Market: Coking coal
29/02/24

Australia-based diversified metals producer South32 has agreed to sell its Illawarra metallurgical coal operations in New South Wales state to an entity owned by Singapore-based Golden Energy and Resources (Gear) and Australia's M Resources for $1.65bn.

The sale, announced on 29 February, includes an upfront cash consideration of $1.05bn payable at completion, a deferred cash consideration of $250mn payable in 2030 and contingent price-linked cash consideration of up to $350mn.

The operations are expected to produce 5mn t of metallurgical coal in the 2023-24 fiscal year ending 30 June. Output in the six months to 31 December 2023 was 1.78mn t, down by 35pc on a year earlier. Australian coking coal exports for 2023 were 151.28mn t, which is the lowest shipped since 2012, down from 160.53mn t in 2022 and a peak of 186.83mn t in 2016, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data supplied by GTT.

The operations' unit cost was expected to be around 20pc above the guidance for 2023-24 at $140/t because of lower volumes following the longwall moves during July-December 2023. The Argus fob Australia premium hard coking coal index average is $318.34/t so far this month, down by 4pc from an average of $331.95/t for February 2023.

The Illawarra operations include two underground metallurgical coal mines Appin and Dendrobium, along with the West Cliff and Dendrobium coal preparation plants. Illawarra Metallurgical Coal also manages the Port Kembla Coal Terminal on behalf of a consortium of partners. The Illawarra venture comprised 35pc of South32's group capital expenditure for 2015-16 to the first half of 2023-24.

Gear M Illawarra Met Coal will acquire 100pc of Illawarra, with Gear subsidiaries holding 70pc and M Resources 30pc. Gear has a 59pc interest in Australian metallurgical coal producer Stanmore Resources, which had entered into an agreement to acquire South32's 50pc interest in the Eagle Downs metallurgical coal joint venture earlier this month. The project has been in care and maintenance since late 2015.

By Deepali Sharma

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