Pike boosts production for Japan By TINA LAW - The Dominion Post | Saturday, 31 January 2009
Pike River Coal is ramping up production as it gets ready for its first shipment to Japan in April.
The West Coast coal miner will ship 40,000 tonnes to Japan at US$300 (NZ$590) a tonne, after prices soared last year from US$100 a tonne.
Chief executive Gordon Ward said the outlook for prices for subsequent shipments depended on annual pricing negotiations.
Analysts were forecasting prices of between US$120 and US$150 a tonne for the year ending March 31, 2010.
Pike River has already locked in long-term contracts with customers covering 70 per cent of its output during the next three years, including 55 per cent to India for the life of the mine and 15 per cent to Japan.
"Pike River expects to sell all coal produced despite the international downturn," Mr Ward said.
The miner was expecting to produce 160,000 tonnes of coal by June 30 and one million tonnes each year after that.
Last October, the company finished its 2300-metre tunnel under the Paparoa Range, 50 kilometres northeast of Greymouth.
Pike River has commissioned a $20 million coal preparation plant and a $12 million Ikamatua rail loadout facility.
The Ikamatua facility could stockpile up to 15,000 tonnes, and is the first in New Zealand capable of loading trainsets of 45 wagons, each carrying 50 tonnes of coal destined for the Lyttelton port.
The company has found three more coal seams under the Paparoa Ranges which could potentially increase the life of the mine.
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