Gunnedah Basin producer Whitehaven Coal has missed its planned saleable coal production by about 200kt during the September quarter because of the adverse affects of wet weather.

The NSW company’s saleable coal production was 1.093 million tonne up 5% on the previous corresponding quarter, while coal sales for 1Q FY 2011 were 1.587 million tonne on a 100% basis, up 39%YoY.

These sales comprised 1.076 million tonne of produced coal and 511,000 tonnes of purchased coal. Whitehaven’s export sales comprised of 300,000 tonnes of coking coal and 1.236 million tonne of thermal coal, with domestic thermal coal sales of 51,000 tonnes for the quarter.

The company’s PCI price for the December 2010 quarter has been fixed at around USD 142 per tonne FOB down from the USD 153 per tonne achieved for the September quarter.

Meanwhile, the directors of Whitehaven will undertake a formal process for potential bidders to determine whether a proposal is available for the company at a price and on terms that are in the best interest of all shareholders. The process is expected to take a number of months. Whitehaven is in preliminary discussions with third parties about potential corporate transactions.

(Sourced from coalportal.com)