- Hwange Coal Miner Doubles Output, Achieving Impressive Growth
- Temporary Production Halt Planned by Hwange Coal Miner to Address Excess Supply
- Efficiency Boost and New Machinery Drive Hwange's Record Sales Performance
Harare- Hwange Colliery Company Limited, a coal miner operating under administration, has experienced an impressive nearly twofold increase in its quarterly coal output during the third quarter ended 30 September 2023.
The company consists of three divisions: Mining, Estate, and Medical, with Mining being the primary revenue generator, contributing over 90% of the company's earnings.
In its recent trading update, Hwange highlighted its production of 989,503 tonnes of coal and sales of 911,245 tonnes, which nearly doubled compared to the previous year's performance. This increase was mainly attributed to the acquisition of efficient and effective machinery in the first quarter of 2023.
The sales breakdown for the third quarter showed that Hwange Power Station coal (HPS) accounted for 48% of total sales, raw coal 39%, Hwange Coking Coal (HCC) 1%, and Hwange Industrial Coal (HIC) 12%.
In the same period of the previous year, the company sold 388,487 tonnes, with HPS comprising 7%, raw coal 55%, HCC 6%, and HIC 32%. Contaminated coal sales amounted to 8,143 tonnes, significantly lower than the previous year's 25,309 tonnes during the same period.
As a result, the Mining division significantly improved its revenue contribution, accounting for 96% compared to 91% in the previous year, while, the Estates Division saw a decline from 8% to 3% during the same period, with the Medical division remained stagnant at 1%.
The company attributed the Mining division's improvement to the implementation of new mechanization in the first quarter of 2023.
For the nine-month performance ended 30 September 2023, the company achieved sales of 2,795,303 tonnes compared to 1,060,976 tonnes in 2022. HPS accounted for 43%, raw coal 39%, HIC 17%, and HCC 1% of total sales, showing a shift from the previous year's breakdown of HPS 9%, raw coal 48%, HCC 8%, and HIC 35% of 1,060,976 tonnes.
Additionally, contaminated coal sales amounted to 30,229 tonnes compared to 71,933 tonnes in 2022.
The sales improvement from 1,060,976 tonnes to 2,795,303 tonnes represents a significant positive change of 163%. This positive change can be attributed to the doubling of production, as well as increased marketing efforts to sell the mined coal.
To address the issue of excess production surpassing sales and prevent the loss of mined coal through spontaneous combustion, the company plans to halt underground mine production for the next six months.
The quantity of mined coal is considered sufficient to meet the company's operational needs.
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