Premier reduces coal losses at Collie

Collie’s Premier coal mine reduced its loss last year despite the absence of a trading recovery.

New company filings show the Chinese-owned miner cut its bottom-line loss to $1 million in 2018 from $17.4 million for the year earlier as annual revenue fell 10 per cent to $214.5 million.

Its pre-tax loss was down to $1.1 million from $7.1 million.

Premier, which is managed by Yancoal on behalf of their Chinese parent, Yanzhou Coal, said the improvement related to the accounting treatment of new development work at Collie rather than an uplift in trading.

“The reduction in loss compared to the previous year was primarily driven by the capitalisation of the initial costs incurred from opening up a new mining pit within the current mining lease,” Yancoal said in response to questions from The West Australian.

“Premier Coal continues to operate in an extremely challenging domestic supply market.”

Asked about the outlook, Yancoal said: “We continue to review cost savings and operational efficiencies in our operations.”

Premier told the Shire of Collie last week that its supply contract with State-owned energy provider Synergy included minimum as well as maximum annual tonnage requirements that were in place through to 2030.

The contract also had two five-year extension options beyond 2030, it said.