- Whitehaven Coal (WHC) cuts its 2021 production guidance for the fourth time this year
- Total output is expected to be roughly 20.4 million tonnes, compared to between 21 million and 22.8 million tonnes announced in January
- Around 4.1 million tonnes came from the Narrabri underground mine, where operations are being delayed by engineering work
- The saving grace for Whitehaven is its Maules Creek mine, which is expected to deliver 12.5 million tonnes this year
- Shares in Whitehaven Coal finished trading yesterday at $2.04 each
Citing further delays to its operations, Whitehaven Coal (WHC) has cut its 2021 production guidance for the fourth time this year.
Total output for the year is now expected to be roughly 20.4 million tonnes, representing a reasonable — but not critical — drop compared to the coal producer’s forecast of between 21 million and 22.8 million tonnes that was announced in January.
Around 4.1 million tonnes is anticipated to come from the Narrabri underground mine in New South Wales, which had previously been forecast to produce between 4.5 million and 4.9 million tonnes.
Whitehaven said in a statement this morning that the reduction is largely due to downtime associated with the “acceleration of engineering works to support the longwall operation and a recent geological event”. Overhaul work on the longwall, along with machinery repairs, are due to be completed in the next few days.
The saving grace for Whitehaven is its Maules Creek mine, also in New South Wales, which is expected to deliver 12.5 million tonnes this year. That figure exceeds the last guidance update of between 12.2 million and 12.4 million tonnes.
“Combined with production output of 3.8 [million tonnes] at the Gunnedah Open Cuts, total open cut production is expected to deliver 16.3 [million tonnes],” the company said.
Shares in Whitehaven Coal finished trading yesterday at $2.04 each.