On February 24, New Zealand-based emerging metallurgical hard coking coal producer Pike River Coal Limited (Pike River) has reported a NZ$14.1 million (US$9.74 million) loss for the six-month period ended 31 December 2009. In the corresponding period of 2008, the company's net loss stood at NZ$9.55 million, which result was 47 percent better.
The company stated that the results for the period in question reflect that its mine is still in its development phase. Once hydro-mining is underway in the third quarter of 2010, the company expects the typical export shipment size of premium hard coking coal to be approximately 60,000 metric tons. Once full production rates from hydro-mining are achieved, the mine is expected to produce an average of approximately 1 million metric tons of premium hard coking coal per year.
On February 19, the company had announced its first export shipment of 20,000 metric tons of premium hard coking coal for an Indian customer, at a value of NZ$3.4 million.