JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – JSE-listed coal miner Keaton Energy delivered 1.5-million tons of washed 2- and 4-seam thermal coal from its Vanggatfontein colliery, in Mpumalanga, to State utility Eskom during the year ended March 31, marking an increase of 58% from the 956 000 t delivered to the utility the year before.

The company indicated that, as expected, 5-seam metallurgical coal sales fell to 65 661 t during the year under review, from 140 000 t in 2011, owing to Pit 1 5-seam coal being depleted in line with the mine plan. The mine used the spare capacity of the 5-seam plant for the toll washing of 106 000 t of third-party coal.

However, the development of Pit 3 during the last quarter provided renewed and consistent 5-seam supply.

Although Vanggatfontein colliery posted a record zero lost-time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) during 2012, as well as record performance, operations were impacted on by electricity supply disruptions, continued poor performance of the front end of the 2- and 4-seam plant and industrial action by transport workers in the middle of the year.

“Work still remains to be done to reach acceptable performance at the front end of the plant,” Keaton Energy said in a statement.

“Although the 2013 financial year presented Vanggatfontein with some challenges, I believe these have been or will be overcome in the short term and I remain confident that this financial year will be a year of massive growth for this long-life operation,” CEO Mandi Glad stated.

Meanwhile, 327 000 t of anthracite were dispatched from the company’s Vaalkrantz colliery, in KwaZulu-Natal, to domestic and international metallurgical markets, a 7% decrease on the previous year’s 351 331 t. Keaton noted that the operation suffered from difficult mining conditions in the West Alfred section of the mine, limiting production.

However, despite these difficulties, the colliery’s safety performance improved to a LTIFR of 0.36, from 0.45 in the 2012 financial year.

“We are pleased with the performance at Vaalkrantz in the face of extremely challenging geological conditions.

“We are now in a period of optimising the operations, advancing our internal pipeline of projects and aggressively pursuing acquisition opportunities where these offer value uplift for our shareholders,” Glad added.

Meanwhile, Keaton achieved a 58% increase in thermal coal production to 1.51-million tons, while metallurgical coal production was down by 20% to 392 000 t.