Australian coal producer New Hope increased its thermal coal production by 33pc on the year over the first half of its financial year, August 2024–January, while increasing its exposure to the coking coal market.
New Hope raised the production rate at its Bengalla thermal coal mine in New South Wales (NSW) to 13.4mn t/yr of ROM coal towards the end of August 2024-January, in line with previously announced plans but below the site's approved capacity of 15mn t/yr.
The company mined 4.2mn t of saleable coal at the NSW mine over that period, allowing it to maintain its Bengalla guidance for the 2025 financial year ending 31 July at 8.1mn-8.7mn t of saleable coal, in its half-year financial report.
To the north of the site, in Queensland, New Hope produced 1.2mn t of saleable coal at its New Acland thermal coal mine over August-January, up from just 300,000t from a year earlier. The company only mined 1mn t of saleable coal at the mine over its 2024 financial year, ending 31 July 2024.
New Hope also negotiated a legal settlement with the Oakey Coal Action Alliance (OCAA), an activist group that had been opposing New Acland's ramp-up, on 13 January. The company's settlement enabled it to maintain New Hope's 2025 guidance at 2.8mn-3.2mn t of thermal coal.
But some of New Acland's coal exports may have been delayed by Cyclone Alfred in March, despite its production and legal successes over August-January. The Port of Brisbane, which handles exports from the site, closed for almost a week as the extreme weather system hovered off the coast of Queensland.
New Hope also increased its ownership stake in publicly traded coking coal producer Malabar Resources, from 20pc to 23pc, over the last half-year.
New Hope diversified its operations as coal prices started falling. Argus' Australian pulverised coal injection (PCI) and thermal coal prices have been sliding over the last three months. Its coal 6,000kcal NAR fob Newcastle price hit $100/t on 17 March, down by 24pc from $131/t on 17 December, while its PCI low-vol fob Australia price slid by 18pc over the same period.
| Saleable Coal Production | mn t | |||
| August-January 2025 | August-January 2024 | August 2023 - July 2024 | y-o-y Change (%) | |
| Bengalla Mine | 4.2 | 3.8 | 8.0 | 11 |
| New Acland | 1.2 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 300 |
| Total | 5.4 | 4.1 | 9.1 | 33 |
| New Hope | ||||
