PERTH (miningweekly.com) – South Africa-focused coal miner Coal of Africa (CoAL) on Friday reported that it had widened its loss for the interim period ending December from $74.7-million in the previous corresponding period, to $111.7-million.

The ASX-listed miner said the increase in the interim loss was as a result of a $50-million impairment loss on its Mooiplaats asset.

Revenue for the six months under review also declined from $125.8-million in the previous comparative period to $87.3-million, owing to lower coal prices and lower sales volumes, following a six-week strike at the Mooiplaats colliery.

CoAL produced some 2.6-million tons of run-of-mine coal during the period under review, and just over one-million tons of export-quality coal. This was compared to the 2.6-million tons and the 1.2-million tons produced in the six months ended December 2011 respectively.

Export coal sales reduced to 636 264 t during the interim period, compared with the 863 893 t sold in the second half of the 2011 calendar year, owing to the reduction in production volumes after the strike action at Mooiplaats.

Sales of export-quality coal to the domestic market also decreased by 13%, to 341 685 t, compared with the 392 932 t sold in the previous six months.

Middling coal sales decreased by 25.9%, from 375 768 t in the six months ended June 2012, to 473 154 t for the December half.

Looking ahead, CoAL told shareholders it was “considerably better-placed” following a strategic investment by Chinese partner Beijing Haohua Energy Resources, which provided CoAL with $100-million in equity funding.

However, the company noted that certain elements of its turnaround strategy remained as work in progress, including the possible restructuring or sale of its Mooiplaats colliery, the Woestalleen colliery, as well as related assets.

CoAL said it was also continuing discussions with various financial institutions to secure new short- and long-term debt facilities.