“Our productivity continues to improve and this was most clearly demonstrated by our Queensland coal business, which ran at a rate of 68 million metric tons per year (mtpy) in the December 2013 quarter,” said BHP CEO Andrew Mackenzie. “Our productivity agenda is in full swing and we expect to carry strong momentum into the second half of the financial year.”
Three mines in Queensland posted record production numbers: South Walker Creek, Saraji and Poitrel. Illawarra coal production declined by 13%, due to an extended outage at Dendrobium and a scheduled longwall move at West Cliff in the September 2013 quarter. Operations are expected to return to normal production levels by the end of the March 2014 quarter. In addition, two major projects delivered first production in Q4 2013 with remaining projects on schedule and budget.
