Major miner New Hope is set to significantly boost its coal production in the coming years as the wheels begin to turn on its coal projects.
The New Acland open-cut coal mine in Darling Downs, Queensland, will produce up to 7.5 million tonnes of product coal per annum. Acland is expected to be exporting coal by October.
New Hope also owns a 15 per cent interest in Malabar, which runs the Maxwell underground coal mine in NSW. The mine will supply coking coal, with a total resource of 770 million tonnes and an initial mine life of 26 years.
Production at Maxwell has sped up to commence production sooner, according to the Australian Financial Review (AFR).
New Hope also own the Bengala coal mine in NSW, which has a production capacity of 15 million tonnes per annum.
The company expects its coal production from new and existing assets to rise from 7.9 million tonnes in 2022 to more than 14 million tonnes in 2026 and over 15 million tonnes in 2028.
The miner seems to be on favourable tides, on Tuesday reporting a 103 per cent increase in net profit after tax (NPAT) in its half-yearly financial report compared to the same period last year.
NPAT for the six-month period came in at $669 million, giving the company plenty of cash to work with.
New Hope also reported a 54 per cent increase in revenue at $1.58 billion.
New Hope chief executive officer Rob Bishop told the AFR that the company was also interested in a bid for BHP’s Queensland coal assets, alongside rival bidder Yancoal.
BHP made headlines when it announced its plan to divest the Daunia and Blackwater coal mines in Queensland.
The company cited Queensland’s controversial three-tier coal royalty system as influential to its decision.
In a March shareholder Q&A, BHP president Geraldine Slattery indicated that company was choosing to focus on high-grade coal for steelmaking, and that the coal produced at its two Queensland projects was on the lower end of that quality spectrum.