Raspadskaya Coal Company (Raspadskaya), the second largest coking coal producer in Russia, has announced that, according to its preliminary results, in Q2 2010 it saw a 42 percent quarter-on-quarter decrease in its raw coal production and a 31 percent quarter-on-quarter drop in its coal concentrate sales, due to the accident at its largest mine Raspadskaya on May 9 this year, as a result of which the mine is not operating currently.
Q2 2010 | Q1 2010 | Change Q2 2010/Q1 2010 (%) | H1 2010 | H2 2009 | Change H1 2010/H2 2009 (%) | |
Total raw coal production (mt) | 1,747,000 | 3,031,000 | -42 | 4,778,000 | 6,392,000 | -25 |
Sales Concentrate - Russia | 974,000 | 1,580,000 | -38 | 2,554,000 | 3,530,000 | -28 |
Sales Concentrate - export | 570,000 | 653,000 | -13 | 1,223,000 | 1,200,000 | +2 |
Total sales of concentrate | 1,544,000 | 2,233,000 | -31 | 3,777,000 | 4,730,000 | -20 |
Weighted-average price of concentrate (FCA Mezhdurechensk) | 120 $/mt | 99.3 $/mt | +21 | 107.7$/mt | 69.6 $/mt | +55 |
In a separate press release, the company said that it is currently taking operational measures to increase production volumes at its other enterprises to compensate for the volumes which have been temporarily lost as a result of the accident at the Raspadskaya mine.
Accordingly, the company has commenced production and raw coal sales of grade K (KO) (hard-coking coal under international classification) at its Koksavaya mine, which was acquired in April 2010. In Q2 2010, its sales volumes from this mine amounted to 21,000 mt. In addition, it has developed a plan for the increase of production volumes at its Raspadsky open pit and signed contracts for delivery of new equipment.
Meanwhile, according to the plan developed for the elimination of the consequences of the accident and reconstruction of the Raspadskaya mine, the total amount of costs for the commencement of production at the damaged mine will preliminarily amount to Ruble 8.6 billion (about $281.3 million).