Australia's New Hope boosts coal output in Aug-Jan

Spanish Market: Coal, Coking coal
18/03/25

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.

By Avinash Govind

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

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15/04/25

Dozens of US coal plants eligible for MATS extension

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Australian coal methane emissions under-reported: Ember

15/04/25

Australian coal methane emissions under-reported: Ember

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Indonesian coal producer Bukit Asam to raise 2025 capex

15/04/25

Indonesian coal producer Bukit Asam to raise 2025 capex

Manila, 15 April (Argus) — Indonesian state-owned coal producer Bukit Asam has increased its 2025 capital expenditure (capex) plan from a year earlier, as it focuses on completing key projects to support its expansion plans. The company said it has earmarked 7.2 trillion Indonesian rupiah ($428mn) as the capital expenditure (capex) plan for this year, a more than three-fold increase from last year's Rp2.35 trillion. Bukit Asam will fund around 80pc of the capex via loans while the remainder will be from the company's own coffers. The company said that it is able to be more aggressive with loans since it has a healthy debt-to-equity ratio of 0.6. The bulk of the capex will be used for the completion of the Tanjung Enim-Kramasan coal railway system, a key infrastructure project to allow the company to increase its coal production. The commercial operation of the railway project will boost the company's transportation capacity by another 20mn t/yr of coal. Construction of the railway project started in 2023 with a target to operationalise the line in 2025, but the project ran into delays. Bukit Asam is now targeting to open the line by the third quarter of 2026. This will be in line with the company's long-term plan of boosting output to 100mn t/yr by 2030. Bukit Asam is also increasing investments in its downstream project, in line with the government's push to develop the downstream coal industry. It has already partnered with Indonesia's National Research and Innovation Agency to develop artificial graphite sheets using Bukit Asam's coal. The pilot project has seen moderate success, but improvements are still needed to reach economic feasibility. Additional funds would help to improve conductivity and density to reach international standards, with the goal of commercial operations by 2028. The project is important for Bukit Asam, as it sees an increase in usage for artificial graphite sheets, ahead with the rising popularity of electric vehicles that would make Li-ion battery parts manufacturing an attractive coal downstream avenue. By Antonio delos Reyes Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Funding cuts could delay US river lock work: Correction

14/04/25

Funding cuts could delay US river lock work: Correction

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Треть заявок направлением на запад не обеспечены грузом

14/04/25

Треть заявок направлением на запад не обеспечены грузом

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