STRONG coal pricing helped MC Mining, a Johannesburg- and London-listed coal mining firm, kick off its 2019 financial year on a good footing.
The average revenue per saleable tonne from Uitkomst, a thermal coal mine MC Mining operates in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Nata province, came in at $87.39 per tonne during the first quarter of the financial year which compares to $50.03/t achieved in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. Fourth, or previous quarter, revenue was $96.52/t.
Commenting on Uitkomst, MC Mining CEO, David Brown, said the move to owner-operator mining at the mine, which included the acquisition and integration of underground mining, was expected to result in improved equipment availability and contribute to higher run of mine production. It was “… the major introductory step to production enhancement initiatives,” he said in comments to the first quarter results.
The quarter under review saw a number of advances in MC Mining’s business plan including securing an off-take agreement for its $85m Makhado project in the Limpopo province. “The company had very successful negotiations with off-take partners,” Brown said. In terms of the agreement, it will sell half of its 800,000 tonnes a year hard coking coal production to Huadong Coal Trading Center Company, a Chinese state-owned company.
One major headwind, however, is a land claim dispute between the landowner who currently occupies property on which Makhado is to be centered, and the South African government. Brown said the company had moved closer to securing access to the properties after embarked “… on the process of enforcing its access rights under the mining right”.
