Anglo American Lowers Coal Production Guidance Following Grosvenor Mine Fire

Diversified major Anglo American has revised its coal production guidance for the year due to the impact of a recent fire at the Grosvenor underground mine in Australia.

As a result of the incident, Anglo has lowered its steelmaking coal production forecast to between 14 million and 15.5 million tonnes, down from the previous guidance of 15 million to 17 million tonnes.

The fire, which occurred at the end of June, led to a suspension of production at Grosvenor. According to a statement released by Anglo on Thursday, efforts are underway to stabilize the mine and reinstate comprehensive underground gas monitoring, a process expected to take several months due to potential underground damage.

Meanwhile, Anglo’s other steelmaking coal operations, slated for divestment as part of the company’s restructuring, continue to operate without disruption.

CEO Duncan Wanblad affirmed that Anglo is “working at pace” to execute asset divestments, including steelmaking coal mines.

In the second quarter, Anglo reported a 26% increase in steelmaking coal production to 4.2 million tonnes. This rise was driven by heightened output at the Grosvenor underground longwall operation following a longwall move in the second quarter of 2023.

Increased production at the Dawson opencut operation was offset by lower production at the Aquila longwall operation due to ongoing difficult strata conditions and at the Capcoal opencut operation due to mine sequencing, with more waste tonnes extracted. The Moranbah longwall operation remained broadly flat owing to ongoing challenges with difficult strata conditions.

The first-half unit cost is expected to be $125 per tonne, higher than the $115 per tonne full-year unit cost guidance prior to the Grosvenor incident, due to lower-than-expected production from the higher fixed-cost underground operations at Moranbah and Aquila.

Anglo has updated its cost guidance to between $130 per tonne and $140 per tonne, up from the previous guidance of $115 per tonne.