It is reported that HWANGE Colliery Company Limited last year coal production fell to 1,7 million tonnes last year from 2 million tonnes a year earlier, due to frequent breakdowns of its plant and equipment.
HWANGE Colliery said that it produced just over one million tonnes of thermal coal, 478 609 tonnes of industrial and coking coal, 185 723 tonnes of coal fines and 43 000 tonnes of coke. Apart from frequent breakdowns, the dragline, the most critical machine used in opencast operations, was not working during the first three quarters of the period under review.
Industrial coal demand also remained depressed due to low performance of companies that use coal fired boilers.
HWANGE Colliery’s full year revenue amounted to USD 66,4 million, largely driven by coal and coke sales, while profit amounted to USD 2,6 million. The current liabilities of USD 58,3 million comprised mainly of trade creditors and borrowings and no dividend was declared.
The company said it was currently negotiating for recapitalisation loans with a development financial institution and conclusion of the negotiations was expected soon.
Going forward, Hwange anticipates the projected economic growth to translate into increased demand for coal products. The demand for coal and coke is expected to start improving towards mid year while the export market will remain buoyant.
Analysts however, recommended that the company should aggressively explore export markets as demand for coal was likely to remain low.
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries has projected that although there has been an improvement in manufacturing output a sector that consumes the bulk of the industrial coal the growth rate may be forced to slow down due to working capital constraints.
(Sourced fromallafrica.com)
Sunday, April 4, 2010
nge Colliery coal productions falls due to power breakdown
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