Vale sees Q3 met coal output drop 4%

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This volume was down by 3.6% on an annual basis, largely due to reduced output at its Integra Coal unit in Australia.

The Integra Coal mine was placed in care and maintenance in May due to poor market conditions, which resulted in the suspension of its longwall activity, according to the firm.

Metallurgical coal output at Vale’s Carborough Downs and Isaac Plains assets, also in Australia, were respectively up by 51.5% and 42.4% year-on-year from July to September, totalling 620,000 tonnes and 209,000 tonnes.

The miner’s Moatize operations in Mozambique, south-east Africa, produced a total of 828,000 tonnes of metallurgical coal in the third quarter, an increase of 17.3% compared with July-September last year.

Despite this growth, Vale said that the ramp-up of the first phase at Moatize was being currently restricted by rail and port infrastructure limitations, which do not allow for the total exploitation of the mine’s nominal capacity of 11 million tpy.