Production has been restarted after being out of action for many months because of problems with methane at the notoriously gassy mine. But coal is being cut at a slower rate, with some areas of the deposit still unable to be safely mined.

South32 is now using the “staged ramp-up” as a chance to “transform culture and performance”, it told the analysts.

Part of this would be developing a “remote production and development capability” over the next 12 months.

Appin output would be down on historical levels for more than another year, with a longwall move also planned for early 2019. 

The Mercury understands the Appin mine is presently operating one longwall miner and one development unit, as opposed to the two longwalls and six development units that were being operated last year. 

South32 estimated production this financial years from the Illawarra Metallurgical Coal unit of 4.5 million tonnes and told analysts full production levels were still almost a year off.

“We expect to return the Appin colliery to its prior two-longwall configuration in the December 2018 quarter, after which we intend to ramp-up Illawarra Metallurgical coal production safely and sustainably towards historical rates of 8Mtpa,” the company said.

The restart has been a period of turmoil at Appin, with many senior staff departing the operation. This has included gas drainage specialists, the general manager, and the mine’s statutory manager.

Voluntary redundancies have also been offered across the business.

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