UK Coal warns production levels lower than expected
UK COAL today announced the recruitment of a new director and said that its production levels last year were towards the lower end of its predictions.
The group has appointed Gareth Williams to its board as mining director and he is expected to join the company next month from Anglo Coal, part of the international mining giant Anglo American.
UK Coal, in which North West property and investment group Peel Holdings has a 28% strategic stake, said that full year production for 2009 is expected to be 5.7m tonnes from its deep mines and 1.4m tonnes from its surface mines which it said is in line with the lower end of its production update in November.
The group said that production on a new face at its Daw Mill colliery is likely to be delayed until the end of next month because it is installing powered roof support to deal with difficult geological conditions it has encountered in the mine.
UK Coal said it has taken “mitigating action” to reduce the impact on working capital including reducing operating costs and extracting more coal from the existing production face.
The group said that the new Beeston Seam at its Kellingley site will see production commence in late February while at Thoresby a further new seam is on schedule for production to begin in March.
UK Coal will make its pre-close trading announcement later this month.
New board member Mr Williams, 43, has more than 20 years experience in the coal mining industry with a range of roles with Anglo Coal including general manager of some of its largest coal mines. He is currently head of operational performance for Anglo Coal Canada and South America.
Born in England, Mr Williams, who is married with four children, was raised and educated in New Zealand and gained a mining engineering degree from the
University of Otago in Auckland.
David Jones, chairman of UK Coal, said: “We are delighted to welcome Gareth. He has extensive coal mining experience and knowledge and an impressive track record in mine management, driving productivity with a strong safety culture. All of this equips him ideally to his new role with UK Coal and made him our clear choice in what was a strong list of candidates in our selection process.”
