New Hope Group’s underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was up 40.8 per cent for the quarter.
EBITDA was reported at $304.6 million, which New Hope attributed to stronger production and higher realised pricing.
Group coal sales sat at 2.8 million tonnes, an 8.1 per cent increase compared to the previous quarter. This was driven primarily by a 21.1 per cent increase in coal sales at the Bengalla mine in New South Wales.
Bengalla recorded a strong operational performance in the first quarter of the 2024–25 financial year (FY25) due to the easing logistical disruptions and the unwinding of in-pit inventories and product coal stocks.
New Hope was able to run the upgraded processing plant closer to expectations, while the construction phase of growth project infrastructure continued with the opening of a new public car park, the commencement of warehouse upgrades, and additional progress on the new operations hub.
The company also received approval from the NSW Resources Regulator to carry out accessible prospecting operations at Bengalla, covering an area of 556 hectares.
“The exploration drilling program continued during the quarter, with two drill rigs completing 14 holes for a total of 4717m,” New Hope said. “There were six fully cored and two partially cored holes, drilled for coal quality and fugitive greenhouse gas emissions assessment.
“A further six holes were subject to chipped rotary mud drilling, primarily for structural characterisation. All holes were geophysically logged and a total of 120 fugitive gas emission samples were taken, along with 492 coal quality samples and 161 geotechnical samples.”
Completion of the program is planned for the third quarter of FY25.
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