Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Whitehaven Coal's Q2 FY23 quarterly production call. All participants are currently on mute. Following the presentation, we will open the call for questions from sell-side analysts. To queue for questions, you may press star one on your touchtone keypad. Thank you for joining us today. I will now hand over to Managing Director and CEO, Paul Flynn. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everybody, and thanks for everyone for taking the time to dial in this morning to our Q2 quarterly report. I should say Happy New Year to everybody, I suppose. I think you can still say that until the end of January, can't you? Until you've met everybody who you normally see. Look, as usual, just go through the highlights for the quarterly report and then go through the mines themselves and open up the Q&A. I understand there may even be some conflicts in terms of other meetings, other quarterly releases going at the same time. So I'll try and keep it snappy for you and move into the Q&A so you can get your questions on the table.
The highlights for us in terms of, coal pricing, two hundred and sixteen dollars Aussie average for the quarter, decent result. December quarter run-of-mine production consistent with, consistent with September, so, over 6% deviation there. December coal sales on an equity level at 3.7, twenty-one percent up on September. December, managed sales produced at 4.6, consistently also twenty percent up on September. Obviously one of the major milestones in the quarter was the announcement of the acquisition of Daunia and Blackwater, a highly attractive and, and transformational, acquisition for us, which I'm sure we'll, we'll have some further to say in the Q&A.
You would have seen us also finalize the terms and conditions with the lender group to refinance out the bridge, which we essentially are not using. That put in place a $1 billion facility for the completion of the transaction, which was fantastic. The net cash position, you can see there, AUD 1.5 billion, after having paid our tax, long service and deposit and other things that related to the transaction. From a safety perspective, we are trending in a good place, which is very positive to see, and more work always required in this area. But our TRIFR at 3.96 is a good result and 16% improvement on last year. So, a very good start to the year.
We wanna make sure we continue to drive this hard, through the balance of the year. And especially as our business is getting bigger, you know, we, we definitely want to make sure that this focus is, is consistent right across, that transition period. From an overview perspective for the quarter, we've had a good quarter, so we're, we're happy with, the overall numbers here. That put us on, on the pathway for our production guides, which is good. The mix has changed. Open cut's done very well and trending towards the, the top end of their, their ranges. Narrabri has had a, a more challenging time of it, with, some geological issues and, and some equipment reliability issues, which we can talk about as, as well when we get into the detail of things.
Managed sales and equity sales, as I mentioned there earlier. The tables are there for you in terms of the managed 5 million, just over, compares to 5.3 for the previous quarter. So for the six months, that puts us in a good place at 10.3. The sale of coal production at managed 4.1, again, very consistent with the previous quarter, so that's looking good on all fronts there. Coal stocks, we have drawn down a little bit, and that would have been a function of us wanting to get the sales profile filled up, despite the fact that Narrabri probably produced a few less tons in the quarter than we would have otherwise liked.
The table below, as usual, gives you the equity, the equity proportions for those numbers. Maules Creek. Maules Creek at 3.1 versus 2.8 for the preceding quarter gives you 6 in round numbers for the half year, which is a solid result. So very pleased with that as an outcome. Operationally, the north, north and east pits are opening up nicely, and we are within shooting distance of the completion of coal extraction from the southwest corner, which we've talked about for some time, which will be completed in this next quarter and give us further in-pit dumping opportunities and productivity opportunities going forward. Sellable coal production for Maules at 2.3 million tons was 8% above, and the sales similarly so.
Coal stocks at 900,000, broadly in line with the previous, the previous quarter. As I say, Narrabri, the mix of our production for the quarter has changed, with Narrabri producing a little less at 1.1 versus 1.5, giving us just under 2.6 for the six months, for the year, down 29% in this quarter. We certainly have been experiencing some, some productivity loss associated with the washout features. We are on the panel, as you know, which is obviously, obviously on the edge of the washout of the seam. And, and that has been, been behaving in a way where roof stability has been resulting in lower, lower production levels than we would like. So productivity has suffered as a result.
So we've put away 1.1 million, as I say, versus 1.5 sellable, about the same numbers, consistent with that. We have had some mechanical challenges there. We re-handed the machine, as many would know, and so there has been a few reliability issues associated with that, which is, you know, a big and extensive engineering challenge to essentially flip over the main gate and the tail sides of the longwall. But those issues are dissipating, and we do expect actually over the next couple of quarters to move into more benign ground in that regard. But I'm sure we can speak to that in a minute when we get to the overall mix of production from our guidance perspective.
As I did say earlier, the open cuts have done well, and so Gunnedah included in that message, not just Maules Creek and both Tarrawonga and Werris have been consistent performance over the first two quarters, and this quarter is no different in that regard. So about 800,000 tons coming out in aggregate from the two of them, 500,000 from Tara, and the balance from Werris. Werris, as you know, is coming to the conclusion of its production phase, and we do expect that at around the end of the March quarter. It may slip over a week or two into April, but that's when it'll be moving then into its rehabilitation phase thereafter. But yeah, good result from both.
Nice to see some consistent performance across the first two quarters of the year, and our expectation is that will continue over the next coming quarters as well. From a realization perspective, as I said there earlier, AUD 216 per ton is our number for the quarter. That's a little bit below September quarter by 4%, but a pretty static market from a thermal perspective, as we're seeing, and you're seeing, of course. AUD 135 average US dollars per ton for the price for the quarter. We managed AUD 142, which is 5% above, which is a decent result. But we continue to see consistent demand in the market.
And then you can see the prices are hovering around this level for some time now, so I think there's good, good strength in the market overall at that level. The domestic coal reservation policy, we've thrown this in there obviously for compliance purposes. We put 153,000 tons into this market, lamentably, and realizing that AUD 115 for the privilege of doing that. Pretty annoying as that is, there is only two quarters left to go with this policy. And so we look forward to seeing the end of that.
The tons have broadly come out of Werris Creek, as you know, from a quality perspective, and we are, we are putting in essentially the minimum quality we need to in order to meet those obligations as part of that. Over the table there, the mix of thermal to met, you can see 91 versus 9, partially the end of it being 72. So our premiums were pretty good to end up, given the 72 to 19 split, to end up at 5% up, as we're noting in the table. So that was a pretty, a pretty decent result overall. As I say, the $ 515 is consistent with what we've achieved from the domestic reservation policy over the past quarters.
From a markets perspective, as I say, the market looks pretty solid at around $130, despite the fact we've just come through this quarter, which is generally the shoulder season. So from a high CV perspective, that market has been pretty robust at that level. You can see it's hovered between a range that we've given you, $122-$147. The met coal market looks pretty good. Certainly, the PLV hard coke has been also in a pretty consistent range over the last couple of quarters, $320-$340 type number. Which would be nice to see the exposure to that, for us, in the last quarter of this year.
The semi-soft and PCI prices certainly have deviated from the historical PLV proportions that you would see. That is influenced to a good degree by a number of factors. Firstly, there are supply constraints on the PLV side of the equation, as we understand, and with weather and so on, particularly in Queensland, and perhaps some more even coming over the next quarter or two. And then you've also got Russia influencing the lower-rank coking market. And that is driving certainly a deviation in historical realizations from the PLV price there. As you can see, we've quoted the semi-soft price at $161 versus $1,333, which is a very low level of realization compared to historical norms.
From our backyard, the port, the port output has actually seen some volume increase, which is good. I mean, there have been weather delays and other things associated, and some production issues with that. So the port has actually seen volume step up a little bit, which is consistent with what we're seeing in the market overall. Despite the change in the mix in our production for the period, our guidance on costs remains the same. Pointing to the fact that we are trending towards the top end of the range with our cost guidance, given that our cheapest tons, generally Narrabri being our cheapest tons, aren't represented in the mix in the way we had set out at the beginning of the year.
But we are within our range, which is very positive. From an acquisition perspective, as I mentioned earlier, we've tucked away the $1.1 billion facility, which is a very positive five-year facility. A very good spread of people interested in that facility, and, and, you know, with the pricing that I think people have seen quoted in the marketplace, with the credit metrics that the company represents, you can see why the interest levels have been strong. Integration work is going at a pace, and plenty of people working on that. And we are meeting our milestones, which is good to see, both internal milestones and also the regulatory ones that are before us.
So competition clearances and other things requiring are progressing and are, we are clearing those at a pace that says the early April timeline here is consistent with the ticking of those various competition clearances off. From a sell down perspective, we are exploring this, and we've taken the time over the last month or two to think about the way in which we would approach this. Our starting point is actually to address the incoming interest in Blackwater in particular, which has been quite strong. And our view is to have a look at this first as a first opportunity to create a joint venture.
And we'll, we'll think about the opportunity with Daunia at a later date, given that is enmeshed with our Winchester South and, being a more complex proposition in that regard, in terms of two assets. So we'll start with Blackwater and move on, given the interest is very, very strong in relation to that asset. That's logical, given Blackwater's quality is well understood, been in the market a long time, and people are very accustomed to using it. So, interest in securing long-term supply here is obviously strong.
Development projects, I won't call out too much there, other than to say, the 50 million or 52 million that you see quoted there covers the whole range of things, but the vast majority of that obviously was going into Little Vickery or the early mining case of Vickery, which is going very well. The construction side of that is actually coming to an end. And so our construction project delivery team are actually in the final throes of handing off to the ops side of things, as the early mining project comes to an end, and it becomes more of an operational focus. As what will be at that time, part of our GOC, our GOC management team.
And we have encountered some early coal there, which is interesting, and so that is going away for testing. So let's see, with very small volumes, but as we're clearing sort of bulk of the works around the site and putting dams and so on in, some coal has been encountered, which is nice to see. But no change in terms of when we expect coal at the end of the year, the end of this financial year, to emerge. Narrabri Stage 3, there's not a lot to report for you, unfortunately. Obviously, the appeal from the Federal Environment Minister's decision not to do anything during this appeal process is frustrating from our perspective, but it remains in status until such time that hearing next month occurs.
Our prospects for this haven't changed in that regard, so we're satisfied with the proposition that this is not a case of any particular merit, but it's just annoying that the time has been consumed with these types of legal shenanigans. Winchester South, you would have seen during the course of the quarter that the Coordinator General released the report and recommended that the project proceed, which is very positive. So we're watching very closely as the government moves through the final machinations of the approval process. From a guidance perspective, what we mentioned there, of course, is that the mix of our tons have changed. We still remain within the overall range, which is good.
So the open cuts, so to say, here tracking towards the top end of our range on, on, on the open cut side of things. At Narrabri, we've given you, we've given you a range to work with here at 5.1 to 5.7. Coal sales remain within the, within the targets also, and our costs, as we mentioned, are certainly, certainly trending towards the top end with the change in mix of our guidance, but remains within. From a capital expenditure perspective, we signaled along the way that obviously we would look at the priorities of capital expenditure during the course of this period, with the announcement of the transaction to acquire Daunia and Blackwater. And so we've those numbers now are in the range of AUD 400-AUD 450 for this financial year.
So with that, overall, look, from our perspective, a good quarter. Very pleased to bang out a consistent quarter, despite the fact that Narrabri's produced a few less tonnes than we would like. The guidance remains the same, but for that small revision to Narrabri. And with that, operator, I'll hand back to you, and we can get some questions going from the Q&A. Thank you.
Thank you. Sell-side analysts, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question comes from Rahul Anand with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Hi, team. Good morning. Happy New Year. Couple of questions from me. Look, firstly, you've talked about the cost headwinds and the move to the higher end of the cost guidance. Can I please double-check in terms of your switch to more Maules Creek versus Narrabri? I would have thought that Maules is a lower cost asset, you know, probably a higher fixed cost base than Narrabri. Shouldn't you be getting some benefits out of that switch? And how am I—what am I missing here, please?
Thanks, Rahul. No, no. Look, there's no change from our perspective in terms of the, if you like, the order in the cost curve, merit order, if you like. Narrabri has always been our cheapest coal, but it does, as you point out, have a higher fixed cost base. And to the extent that you're getting less volume out of it, obviously that fixed cost base gets spread over fewer tonnes. And that's what I was alluding to earlier there, just in terms of the mix driving a cost trajectory into the upper end of our guidance parameters. Still within, but trending towards the upper end there. But it's always been the lowest cost tonnes we have, but for anomalies.
Got it. Okay, and just to follow up there, obviously, Maules Creek doing really well this period. You know, any sort of relief from that automation side that led to this? Are we progressing more towards a resolution to that situation, or is this purely just operational improvement on the back of new mining areas opening up?
Yeah, look, I think, I think the mine planning is improving, the quality of the mine planning and the execution of the plan in the quarter has certainly been a real focus for us to want to get just more consistent production out of the site. Yeah, the quarter is actually typified by a combination of both autonomous and manned. In fact, we had periods when we're fully manned and periods when the two autonomous fleets were operating within that quarter. So there's no real influence there to be noted as a key driver in that mix. But I'll just say it's better planning and better execution, and consistent coal flow is what we want to see rather than a mad rush in Q4.
Got it. Okay, just one question, which, which might have been answered with your acquisition presentation, but I haven't gone back to it. You talked about how Blackwater might be the first one that, you know, you'd, you'd be able to get another party interested who's an offtake partner. What is the current nature of the offtakes of the asset? I mean, are there long-term offtakes already in place, or are some of these coming up for renewals that someone might actually be interested? Because if they've already got long-term offtakes in place, I'm trying to understand why they'd want to buy a stake.
Yeah. Yeah, look, I mean, this is not our, not our asset yet, Rahul, so I'll speak, you know, in general terms around that. Look, historically, as you know, unless you were a joint venture partner, the industry isn't typified by long-term contracts. Generally, they've been evergreen one-year things that just roll, you know, year after year after year. Now, this mine's been around a long time, and so it has had a long history of those one-year contracts just rolling. And that's been fine whilst the same people were all involved. Now, there's a change in ownership impending, of course. And there are more interested parties in the market for this type of coal than there was in the past.
And so, you know, a lot of this coal has traditionally found itself in the Japanese market, but the Indian market has become a very big piece of the puzzle here. And, and so there is competition for this type of coal. So the users of that coal historically are understandably keen to secure longer-term certainty for that volume, given that there are newer and big competitors in the market for the same, the same material. So no, there's not long-term offtake arrangements that we're aware of that are coming to a conclusion. It's really just a reflection of the fact that this is a big player. It's been in the market for a long time. Change of control clearly coming up. And there are new entrants into the market who are looking to secure long-term supply.
You've seen them play out with other transactions in the coal space just recently, where, you know, say, for instance, the Indian market's been very active in trying to secure more volume for themselves. And so that's the dynamic that we see playing out in this. And so we'll kick the process off with Blackwater because it's the inbound interest, as I said, is very strong.
And the Daunia situation, we'll review at a later date, given that it is interrelated with Winchester South, and any attempt to try and sell down a piece of that would necessarily want to contemplate the integration of the two, and that integration work is what we're embarking on now to look at all the opportunities to tether those two sites together.
Got it. Okay, look, I've got a few more, but I'll queue back in and come back. Thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Chen Jiang with Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Paul. Thank you for taking my questions. A couple from me, please. Firstly, just, well, BHP reported yesterday and increased the BMA cash cost. I'm wondering if your cost guidance provided in last October still intact for Blackwater and Daunia. Could you please give us some color on how you are going to reduce the cash costs substantially in the next few years? You know, from the current level, BHP guided $110-$116 for the current financial year. Thank you.
Yeah, thanks, Chen. Look, that's a good question. You know, we have limited capacity to answer that, obviously, given that we don't own the mine yet, and the guidance that they've given isn't Blackwater specific, as I understand it. That is across their portfolio, so there's a blended outcome there. Yeah, we're watching that very closely, and of course, the numbers that we gave when we announced the deal wasn't about next year's numbers. It was actually an average over five years. And so there's obviously lots of keen interest on our side as those numbers were reported, and we have some opportunity to get a glimpse into this along the way, given that we are the incoming owner.
So we are monitoring that closely, and, but this is obviously, these assets remain in BHP's hands. And, and the arrangements we have, have, have contractual arrangements in place to take account of, of changes in the operation. To the extent that there are, we have some protections in, in that area. So we are keenly watching it, but again, those a- those numbers that we gave you, back in October were, were averages for the five-year. And our plans in terms of, efficiencies and, and opportunities to drive, these mines into a lower segment of the cost curve, remain the same. But yeah, we're keenly, we're keenly watching this as this plays out.
But it won't be long before we obviously get to have a look at this, because as they have noted and we have noted, we expect this transaction to complete in early April, so it won't be long before we're seeing that.
Yeah, sure, sure. Thanks, Paul. Maybe just another follow-up on the BMA. You know, BHP yesterday mentioned they... There’s a significant increase in the plant maintenance across all the BMA assets and also increased the prime stripping. Is that what you are expecting for Blackwater and Daunia as well? Will you, we will take over the operations in two or three months’ time? Thank you. Early... sorry, early April.
Yeah, yep. That is consistent with our due diligence and our negotiations with them, that they would be in that phase.
Okay, so you... Okay, so you are expecting the planned maintenance increase and increase stripping schedule from Blackwater and Daunia. Okay. Okay, thanks. Maybe last question-
But Blackwater, don't forget, Chen, you just need to remind yourself here that their guidance is actually on a group basis, the BMA guidance, right? And so they have other big mines in different stages of their mine plan sequencing. And so whether a maintenance or stripping and so on, the numbers they've given you don't actually relate to our mines specifically, or the mines that we are to own specifically. It's actually a group basis. So I think we just need to be cautious in terms of deducing that the comments they give you on a group basis necessarily apply to Blackwater and Daunia.
Okay. Okay. All right, thanks. And maybe last question, Paul, please. Just in regards to the 20% sell down, it seems like you prefer to sell down the minority from Blackwater first, and then Blackwater and Daunia will sell separately to different JV partners. Is my understanding correct? And then, what is the current thinking around the use of proceeds from the sell down? Will this go towards reducing your gearing cap on the balance sheet or return to shareholders? Thank you.
Yeah. Thanks, Chen. Yeah, look, I wouldn't be inferring preferences too much there either, quite frankly. There is... As we've noted in previous calls, there are differing levels of interest in the assets from a joint venture participation perspective. And so some people have expressed interest. They're interested in both. Some people expressed interest, are interested in one or the other, depending on how much they know or how much they've procured in the past from one or the other. All I'm highlighting from our perspective is the simpler answer is there's very good interest in Blackwater in particular, there's been very strong interest in it. It is unencumbered by the need to study, you know, an adjacent, undeveloped, and soon hopefully to be approved asset, such as the case with Daunia.
So that's just from a mechanical perspective a little bit more. There's a few more steps in the process that need to be considered. Of course, we think Winchester South is a fantastic addition to Daunia and gives that complex a 50-year life. But you need to map out properly the synergy opportunities and the value that you might seek from someone if you want to sell a piece. So that's all I'm highlighting here. Not too much, not too much a preference for... It's just the practicalities of life that we're highlighting here in terms of how this would play out.
Sure, sure. Thanks.
Proceeds, and just goes obviously into the business and, in terms of whether or not we're allocating that one direction or another, obviously, you, as you would understand, you know, we obviously have vendor finance over the next two years that we need to address. And so, any money that comes into the consolidated coffers will obviously be there to assure everybody that we're meeting all our requirements.
Okay. Thanks. Thanks, Paul, for, for that. I'll pass it on. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Caleb Heiner with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Hi, Paul and Kevin. Happy New Year. It's Paul Young here. I hope you had a good break over Christmas. First question's on the operations, specifically on Narrabri. Paul, I guess it's another year, another geological sort of challenge. I guess we've seen dikes and faults, intrusions, and now washouts. So I'm just trying to get a sense of on the go forward, particularly for, say, the next one or two years, can you just step through any other geological features that you want to call out? And also just remind us, please, of the timing around the longwall changes.
Yeah. Hi, Paul. Yep, they're good questions. I've got Ian sitting next to me, and I'll hand pass to him on that one. I mean, look, this one, as you know we knew, being obviously on the eastern side of the Basin of the mine, in terms of where the seam essentially washes out from economic extraction with the longwall, that is. We always knew that there were going to be these types of washout features there. The challenge here for us is that in this instance, the behavior of the longwall, or the behavior of the roof with the longwall, is different from what we observed when we were driving, you know, the main and all the gate roads on either side of this thing.
So that we didn't see anywhere near the types of roof challenges as a result of driving that drive, which we're seeing with the longwall. And so there, there's certainly a different behavior there. But it slowed things down, which is pretty annoying from our perspective. It's all manageable, but it's just annoying, the productivity shifts that come with that.
Yeah. So Paul, I'll just jump in there. So I mean, you referenced some of the historical challenges we've had. Sort of in respect to the faults and those items that we had in the previous blocks, I mean, I think we've sort of run through what we're doing there with the amount of drilling we're doing now. I think we mentioned the term Yabby, which is something we've developed with a number of other sort of technologies to ensure that the blocks don't have any major faults, which has caused us some problems before. A bit of context, the washouts are, I'd call them, small intrusions coming from the conglomerate that lies immediately over the top of the seam where we are at the moment.
As Paul said, I mean, on that eastern side, we're near what we call the subcrop, so where basically the seam starts to thin. So, as far as the sort of progression of the blocks 204, 205, what happens is the seam starts to thicken up and the conglomerate starts to move off the top of the coal. So the impact of the sort of little fingers, for want of a better term, that are coming down into the coal seam from the conglomerate, reduces as we head to the west.
... I think you asked the question about the next move. We're anticipating that it'll probably be in about Q3, FY 25.
Okay, great. Thanks, Ian. That's, that's good detail. Maybe moving on to projects and the announcement of the CapEx reduction, that you know, around $1 00 million. Paul, any sort of thoughts around your reassessment of projects and sequencing of projects? You know, Vickery versus Winchester versus Brownfields, and how you're thinking about sequencing projects. And as far as the CapEx cuts are concerned, I presume it's out of development growth and the other buckets that you released with your FY 2023 results.
Yeah, look, Paul, there's nothing, nothing magical that's changed in our thinking around the projects themselves. There is a natural element of deferral of capital that comes from the slower production at Narrabri. And so, thoughts around longwall replacement capital and so on defers out into the next year. So we can deal with that then. The capital for early mining at Vickery, as we highlighted, that has gone in and doing well, and so we're pleased with that. As I mentioned, there's some early signs of some coal which we're exploring, but yeah. There'll be the first evidence of coal coming through for proper washing at the very back end, late in this financial year.
But in terms of CapEx, I mean, our CapEx generally, as you know, we put a wide range out there, and we've underspent. And obviously, it's just—I think everyone's just been busy, and the priorities have just slid to the right, to some degree. Winchester, no change. Winchester, no material CapEx required there. And nice to see the Coordinator General's report. That's fantastic. Let's see the full state-based approval, hopefully soon. The federal EPBC approval, obviously working in parallel, but still, it's still... You've got to think between legal shenanigans and the federal's approval process, you're still two years away from that.
That 2-year window is ideal in the sense that we want to study very closely the opportunity for integration at Daunia and Winchester South, and that's, that'll be a really important piece of work that we embark on once we've take ownership here.
Yeah, thanks, Paul. So you, you're saying basically, it's mostly Narrabri, just development?
Yeah, yeah, mostly Narrabri slid to the right as a result of the slower rate. There's no point in ordering a longwall list, as Ian's just highlighted to you, that the change out from one panel to the next is gonna be further into next year. So, yeah, look, all that stuff will slide to the right, and we'll address that in the new year.
Okay, great. Just last one, just on the cash flow movements. I know it's not the financial result, but as far as where the cash balance settled, you've got the cash tax you've articulated there and also the deposit. But anything else you wanna call out from a cash flow movement perspective? You know, understanding the inventories came down, so I'd obviously think that working cap came down, just that that cash balance was a little bit lighter than maybe some expected.
Yeah, okay. Yep, thanks, Paul. Yep, Kevin's chomping at the bit to answer that one.
Yeah, that was for Kevin, just to, just to bring him into the mix.
Thanks very much, Paul. The answer for that is that you've got a receivables bill at the back end of December, that's unwinding very early in January.
Great.
So, just the timing of sales replacement of December quarter.
Yeah. Okay, okay. All right, Kev, that's, that's great. Thank you.
Thanks a lot.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Chris Drew with Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Morning, Paul, Kevin. Happy New Year. Thanks for the call. Question on the autonomous haulage, I guess, sort of following up from the earlier comments. I guess you're getting towards the period that you've given yourselves for the assessment of whether to pursue or continue with this. Any comments on kind of how that is shaping up? Are you sort of starting to get a little bit more confidence in what's happening there? Thanks.
Yeah. Thanks, Chris. I mean, as I've highlighted earlier, I mean, the quarter itself, the quarter itself had had good signs from autonomous performance at periods, but then there are also times when we, we threw people back into the gear as well. So nothing really changed in that regard, that, that we'd point to. But, you know, we do have, we do have some time remaining in terms of that consideration. But yeah, as, as you're pointing, we, we have put a timeline on that, and and there's not limitless time, so we will, we will come to, come to a conclusion on that relatively soon.
But yeah, as I say, the quarter had rolled out consistent with the previous quarter as being a mix of both manned and unmanned activity, which is not what we want. Generally, we want to see more unmanned.
Great, thanks. And perhaps just a point of clarification on the CapEx reduction. Are you sort of suggesting best plan is just to take that CapEx reduction and roll it into FY 25, or would that be out of line with your expectations?
That would be the most conservative position, if from a CapEx projection perspective. But I probably would suggest to you that it's not solely just a move to the right. There will be some further reevaluation of the CapEx profile next year.
Okay, great. Thank you very much. Thanks, guys.
Thank you. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one. Your next question comes from Glyn Lawcock with Barrenjoey. Please go ahead.
Morning, Paul. Happy New Year. Maybe you, we could just, could we just touch a little bit more on your cash position, thanks. And I heard what Kevin said about the working capital to unwind in the second half, but you've got to pay BHP AUD 3 billion, probably in April, and another AUD 400 million in stamp duty and costs for the advisors, so AUD 3.4 billion, but you've only got AUD 3.1 billion in facilities, both cash and the new debt facility you put in place. So you're about AUD 300 million short. You only generated free cash flow in the last 3 months of AUD 50 million. So just, how do you think about that funding shortfall, or is there enough working capital unwind, or what? Thanks.
Yeah, thanks, Glyn. I know Kevin will want to jump into this. But, yeah, look, we certainly feel comfortable about what we've put in place here in terms of being meeting all our obligations. So, I'm not sure about your math and the alignment of your math to our math, but, yeah, we feel comfortable about the cash flow generation of the business. There's been some one-offs in this last quarter, sure, that the cash balance, you know, is a little less. But the second quarter, I think, and, oh, sorry, the third and fourth quarter will- the third, in particular, will be obviously influential in terms of how that plays out.
You know, we've got plenty of opportunities to, if there's any unforeseen changes, that we can make sure that we're in good order on the settlement date.
Yeah, no, I'm with you, Paul. Look, Glyn, I see your note that you dropped down about 9:30 A.M. this morning, and that was one of the points you put in it. But my answer for you would be that we've been through this thing for the last 7 months on where do we think cash is gonna be and where do we think we're gonna get funding from, and we are confident we're able to settle this transaction together with the associated costs, and we've got the liquidity to do that. So yes, the unwind of the receivables has taken place, and we've got a strong third quarter coming. So I'm busy with planning on integration and trying to stand systems up to make this thing take place on the second of April.
Okay. No, understood. I mean, obviously, price can move around, but it's just the one funding facility you've got, the, the $1.1 billion you just put in place. You didn't hang on to the $900 million facility. That's gone?
No, no, the $900 million was a bridge, and the bridge was taken out by the $ 1.1 billion. What I would say to you, what I'd say to anybody on this call, is that we were very pleased with the response from capital providers. And by that, I mean, you can assume that this was substantially oversubscribed. We like it.
Yeah.
We like the structure. We've worked through the thing. We're confident we'll close this thing on the date that's coming.
Yeah, and if I was to be right, I guess you just get more facility in place to bridge whatever gap you've got between that and the sell down anyway.
Well, I reckon we'll just head down the path of closing this thing on the second of April, as we planned.
Yep.
So we're good.
Yep. No, and then I look forward to it. Look, just on the acquisition and the assets. I know, Paul, you've, you haven't taken control, and you've made a few comments about that already, but you've obviously got access to site, and you've been up there. You know, BHP said about 60% of their reduction was weather related, and the other 40% of the reduction was obviously the disposal of the assets. But it has been extremely wet, both in the south and the north. Can you make any comments about how the mine's fared with the rain? I know it... Is it at all from your observations being on site?
Yeah, look, look, well, we have been up and around the sites. We haven't been obviously living there, of course, Glyn, because they've got a business to run, and we want them to run that business right up to the day that we take ownership. So it has been wet. You're right, you're right to point that out. Generally, generally, the effects there, in particular, haven't been so bad. I mean, there's been a bit of it at Daunia and less so, less so at Blackwater. But, you know, we're tracking it, and as I mentioned earlier, we have arrangements in place to, you know, if there are variations in the operational metrics at the time that we take ownership. So those metrics don't actually... The risk of weather's not on us, generally. It's on them.
So if that causes any of the metrics to be out of step with where we think they should be on completion, then there are protections in there to deal with those things. So we're watching it closely, of course, just because we want to make sure that the mines are operated basically consistent with their budgets, the way they said they wanted to. And so that we take over a mine, you know, that's been operating in a way consistent with what their plans set out to be. Now, we obviously are not relying on their plans. We've built up our own plans, as I've mentioned in previous calls, from scratch.
We want to know where the face positions are at a particular point so that we can actually then move on with our plans. So look, I think that they're in reasonable form. I think that, as I said, earlier in the previous call, I don't think it should be right that the, to deduce that the group guides they've given on BMA is necessarily applicable to these two mines in particular, because I don't think they are. But I think that generally, they're doing okay.
Yeah. And then just on the sell down, just as a final follow-up. Yeah, obviously, it'll be an offshore buyer, so probably a little bit more scrutiny on the acquirer than being put on yourself buying the assets off BHP. Yeah, how quickly do you think you could close something behind the second of April? Is it a matter of, you know, a quarter, or is it gonna take a little while, do you think?
I think it'll be driven by who the successful parties are, Glyn, because there's a range of different names in there from different jurisdictions. And you know, some are wanting to move very quickly, and others we know take time. And so there'll be a variation in there. The key for us is, as Kevin said, we're very satisfied that we can settle the deal. It doesn't sit... We settle the deal on our own, so this is an action subsequent to that.
And so it's really about getting the right, the right constitution or the right constituent members of the joint venture, if you're gonna do that. We are keen to do that, so we think that that model has served us well, and the interest is strong, so we should capitalize on that. And, and of course, the asset values themselves, if one looks at even long-term met coal prices, have improved. So it's a good opportunity for us to try and bring that to a conclusion. I won't put a date on predicting when that will be. I think that would will be bound to be wrong one way or the other.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But it's very positive, the inbound interest we've got, and we'd just like to capitalize on it. And as I said earlier, it's just the mechanics as to why let's launch with one and get this done, and then the other one, as I say, will be subject to a bit of study between the integration opportunities between Daunia and Winchester South.
The 20%'s a hard number? You won't go above it?
Oh, it feels pretty good. I mean, if we get overwhelmed with interest, it's like the funding. It feels, you know, we're well oversubscribed there, so we took a little more.
And so, is this the same? Can you draw the same analogy here in terms of that? 20%, I think, is about right for us, but if we were overwhelmed, we're overwhelmed, we're open-minded. But, but we said previously 30% would be the upper limit, and we're, we remain at that being an upper limit. But I think 20% is a good place to sit.
All right. Thanks very much for your time, Paul.
Thanks, Glyn.
Thank you. That concludes our question and answer session. I'll now hand back to Mr. Flynn for closing remarks.
Yep. Thanks very much, Operator. Thanks, all, for your time. If there's any further questions, you know where to find us. We look forward to catching up with you in due course. Appreciate everyone dialing in. Thank you.
Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.