Argus reported that Anglo American has restarted its 6.5 million tonnes per year Moranbah North coking coal mine in Queensland in Australia, four months after a seam collapse forced its closure.

The return to production will add supply back into the seaborne market at a time when demand is weak because of Covid-19 restrictions in key markets such as India, Europe and northeast Asia. This could add further downward pressure on already sliding metallurgical coal prices.

But Anglo has lost production at its 5 million tonnes per year Grosvenor coking coal mine, which has been closed following an explosion in May, and at its 4 million tonnes per year Dawson coking and thermal coal mine, where it is has suspended one shovel and excavator fleet because of lower demand.

Anglo produced 3.83 million tonnes of metallurgical coal in January-March, down from 4.16 million tonnes in October-December and 6.28 million tonnes in January-March 2019.

The decline was driven by a fall in production at the Moranbah North mine to 451,000 tonnes in January-March from 2.33 million tonnes in October-December, although it was up from a year earlier when an extended longwall move cut production to 240,000 tonnes. The production in the latest quarter all came in January before the roof collapse.

Moranbah North produced 6.15 million tonnes of coal in 2019, down from 6.76 million tonnes in 2018.