Mining Weekly reported that Australian coal producer Coal & Allied has reported it would shut down the Mount Thorley Warkworth North coal preparation plant, in New South Wales, on a temporary basis.

The decision was taken after the company conducted an organizational review during the Q1 of 2009, which ended in March.

The shutdown is planned to last six weeks and was not expected to adversely affect Coal & Allied’s production levels for 2009.

Meanwhile, the company has reported that its share of saleable coal production for the quarter ended March 2009 was down 11% on the December 2008 quarter.

The 4.2 million tonnes of coal produced during this quarter was also 9% lower than the corresponding quarter in 2008.

The company said that production was adversely impacted by wet weather conditions. The Bengella project, also in New South Wales, reported a 20% decrease in coal production compared with the previous period, owing to the weather impact as well as coal seam sequencing.

The Mount Thorley Warkworth project was 27% down on the December quarter and was largely impacted by coal seam presentation, truck availability and wet weather.

Coal & Allied said that “Strong production and coal sales in the Q4 of 2008 resulted in all operations starting 2009 with low levels of in-pit coal inventories. Low opening in-pit inventories exacerbated the impact of wet weather in the Q1 of 2009.”

Coal sales for the Q1 was down 16% compared with the previous quarter and despite the lower production in theQ1 of 2009, the company anticipates that full year export sales would be in line with port allocation. Total sales were also likely to be comparable with 2008 figures.

(Sourced from Miningweekly.com)