Reuters reported that Singapore listed coal miner Straits Asia is still optimistic about meeting its coal output target of 9 million tonnes 2009 despite the collapse of a new loading facility at its mine in Indonesia.

The firm said last week that a new coal loading facility at its Jembayan mine in Indonesia's East Kalimantan province has collapsed due to heavy rains.

Mr Graeme Tivey CFO of Straits Asia said that Straits Asia was looking at some options to boost output after the collapse including upgrading capacity at its existing loading facility to between 6.5 million tones to 7 million tonnes from 5.5 million tonnes annually. The firm was also looking at the possibility of loading some of the coal via neighboring miners as well as buying the fuel from other sources to meet demand from customers.

He said that "All of those things together, can get us out of the problem while we rebuild the loading facility.”

(Sourced from Reuters)