Good morning, everybody. Thanks very much for dialing in for the September quarter, twenty twenty-four, the first quarter of the new financial year. As usual, I'll go through our report and then dive into the Q&A. And I'm joined today, as usual, with Kevin Ball, our CFO, and Ian Humphries, our COO, and our investor relations team. So look, I'll just go through the highlights quickly for you. It's been a terrific start to this new financial year with the enlarged business. So I'll go through the group results, then we'll dive down into the state-based outcomes. Group Safety is certainly looking very good.
It is, as you can see, for those who've been watching from the last quarter, being the first of the enlarged group, it's essentially an average of the New South Wales and Queensland results, as you can see, at 4.4, our TRIFR. 4.5, sorry. It's really the central point between where we finished in June at 3.3 for New South Wales and 6.6 for Queensland. So, heading in the right direction, but more work to be done in that regard. All mines are performing well and all on plan, if not better, in fact, so very positive in that regard.
Our managed ROM totals of 9.7 million tonnes for the quarter, certainly a very good result, and comprising, you know, our ROM totals of Queensland are 5.3 and New South Wales are 4.4. Total equity sales produced coal 6.4 for the quarter. Slightly down on quarter-on-quarter with June, but June obviously was a big quarter. Queensland sales at 3.6 there, of course, and New South Wales equity sales at 2.8. Revenues for the quarter, the split of those 64 to 36. Unit costs are performing well, so we're actually tracking down the bottom end of our guidance, which is very positive. More to talk about that as we make our way through the discussion.
Net debt, consistent with where we wanted to be, so that's actually improving, and of course, during the course of the quarter, we announced the sell-down of 30% of the Blackwater Mine, and we're expecting the proceeds from that sale to be in the bank in Q3 FY 2025. So a very good start to the year, as I say, all mines tracking very nicely, doing what they should be doing, and in the case of Queensland, better than planned. Now, so over the table there, you've got all the results there. I won't go through them all for you. I know you can do that in your own time.
But you can see the comparison between June quarters, as I say. New South Wales, always a big quarter in Q4. And Queensland, certainly, we're happy with the June quarter, and September is continuing that very positive momentum forward. So Queensland ops, as I say, very, very nice to see that continuing to improve. With 5.3 million tonnes of ROM, that's 11% up on the June quarter, so a very, very solid outcome there. And I know everybody's been wanting to watch the splits between the two mines. And of course, the railings at Daunia have significantly improved, as we said, that we're already dealing with that. And that certainly has delivered a much better outcome, which is reflected in the 17% quarter-on-quarter increase in Daunia sales.
Our efforts to improve and reshape the business are ongoing, and our management teams are well entrenched now in the business, having been all installed during the course of the quarter. Teams are doing very well at both sites. Very positive to see the momentum that they are building. You can see the outcome of increased production with stocks at the healthy levels. That's nice to see. Across Queensland, 2.3 million tonnes. That's reflected across progress on both sites. Very good. The efforts to build our blasted inventory and also our stripping inventories are certainly underway.
Cost initiative outcomes for the Queensland business, we feel confident that we're building nicely to the annualized run rate revision of 100 million tonnes, AUD 100 million by the end of FY 2025. As I say, Daunia, September quarter, very, very good. 1.6, that's a big step up on where we were, obviously for the last quarter. And as I say, importantly, management of the pathway constraints that we had experienced in our first quarter of ownership in the June quarter have not only been addressed, but we're continuing to optimize that, so we're actually delivering ahead of schedule, as you can see, which is very positive. Blackwater doing very well. Consistent with the June quarter, 5% higher, it's nice to see.
We are continuing to optimize that site and also deal with those matters that we said that we wanted to do, via the increase in blasting stocks and also the pre-stripping capacity. The first of those two 800 tonne diggers that we have ordered to augment the pre-strip capacity has walked off its commissioning pad during the quarter. So yeah, very pleased with Queensland, definitely doing a good job. New South Wales running according to plan, which is very nice to see, as I say, all mines doing exactly that. The ROM totals for the quarter for New South Wales, 4.4 million tonnes.
That's down on the June quarter, but we all acknowledge that June was a large one, and that this is in accordance with the phasing of our plan for this year. I'll go through the mines quickly. Sales of produced coal, three and a half million tonnes, 16% lower, in line with obviously the lower ROM targets for this quarter, but as I say, in line with plan. Maules Creek at 2.2, is again consistent with the theme. Lower, but in accordance with the plan. The reason for the lower outcomes at Maules is, as you know, we finally finished mining out the southwestern corner of Maules Creek. So that liberated dumping capacity.
So we now have turned our focus to the increasing strike length to the north and the east. And so there is a little bit more stripping involved in this quarter, a little bit more in the next quarter. But you'll see, you'll see an even spread of coal pretty much over the next three quarters, which, as I say, in line with the plan. Now, right, look, consistency has not been necessarily its best in previous paths, but June was good, and this quarter certainly is very good. So we are building momentum here nicely. And what we are seeing is improvements in reliability just from the focus on the mechanical health of the longwall.
And so nice to see consistent production coming through there at 1.6 million tons, up on the June quarter. So, and of course, we'll see this quarter, a fully productive quarter. Then we'll have Q3, which will involve the change-out period, which will be a little bit longer than normal. So because we've got two extra weeks budgeted in our change-out, as I said in the previous quarter, we will be bringing a good number of the chocks to surface for overhaul on surface. So we've got an eight-week change-out in Q3 that you should factor into your numbers. GOC is doing what it needs to do. We are chewing through the hill at Tarawonga, and so, as we said before, we are in a period of higher stripping there at Tarawonga.
Between Tara and Vickery, they're doing what they need to do, so a solid start to the first quarter of the year. I'm over the page into coal sales and realized pricing. As I say, September quarter sales are 6.4. Very good result, consistent with where we've been in June. And so I think it's overall, we're very pleased with the results. The average price realized there for the Queensland operations at AUD 259. And we wanted to give you some splits here, so that you could use that for your modeling.
If we're looking at how that factors down through the realized prices for Queensland across the quarter relative to the PLV hard coking price, that was $176, so 84% of the Platts PLV hard coking price for that same period. Now, in terms of splits of coal sales of Queensland, 55% was in the hard coking and semi-hard component of the total sales there. 43% was in the PCI and semi-soft. So the PCI and semi-soft achieved 75% of PLV, and the hard coking and semi-hard achieved 91% of the PLV hard coking, and the balance being a high-quality thermal tertiary product that comes out the back end of the process. Good realizations and solid results overall.
New South Wales, of course, has had, from a price perspective, a relatively static period, so quarter on quarter has been, been pretty flat, but flat in a very positive way because the prices are pretty good, despite the fact that the market is, is still relatively subdued, and so an average price of AUD 211 for the quarter is consistent with the previous, the previous quarter, and the realized, the realized price there, pretty much bang on with the, just slightly below our GC NEWC outcome in total. There's a table at the back of the, the back of the document for you to, to look at the various realizations from the various, products we have, but yeah, good result overall, for the September quarter, $139.
From a market perspective in the outlook, I think both sides of our business are interestingly positioned in very supply-constrained dynamics, both on the thermal side and also the met side, and we are in a shoulder season from our thermal side anyway, so you would be expecting relatively subdued prices, but the price on the thermal side of the business has been very positive, and we are seeing incremental purchasing out of that, out of Japan in particular, on the high CV end of the market. From the met coal side of things, of course, you know, there's a number of different discussions, and you've seen some announcements from China during the course of the last few weeks about stimulus.
And it will be interesting to see how that plays out in terms of something more substantive than what's already been announced. But we are, as I said, in the previous quarter, we are now seeing incremental buying from the Indian side of the market, which seems to be coming out of its monsoon period. And in the last month or so, we've seen a lot of trader activity trying to take up a lot of the volume in the market. And that type of behavior is usually indicative of them trying to front-run an increase in coal prices. So I think we're well positioned there, and the market will turn as the Indian buying gains momentum and as we see China and its stimulus efforts take more hold.
While this is a production report, we know we need to give you a bit of a guidance on where we're going cost-wise. We configured our guidance broadly off the back of conservative position guidance at 140-155, and we are tracking well. The cost out initiatives and the productivity gains that we're seeing across the business are improving, particularly in Queensland. We are tracking towards the bottom end of our guidance, which is very positive. If I look out across the year, I think that will continue to improve as the cost out initiatives gain further momentum as the productivity improvements that we're seeing take greater effect across the course of the year.
So I expect that we'll continue to improve in that regard. As I said before, we're comfortable with the rebasing of the cost base by AUD 100 million by the end of the financial year. We get a lot of questions about royalties, so we thought we'd just add in the royalty number per ton. That's obviously the blended outcome across the group at AUD 30 a ton. So times that by your volumes, you know we're definitely kicking the tin for both state governments in providing plenty of royalty revenue for them. Now, lots of inbound questions, of course, on the contingent payment structure, the upside sharing arrangement that we have in place with BMA.
And so we thought we'd give you a little bit more information here just for your reference. We can probably trim that down in later reports, but at least we'll give you the boots and all version to start off with. So just to recap on this, we're sharing the upside, 35% of the revenue over and above $159 US in this year, and for the two years subsequent, $134 US. Now, that is capped at $350 million US per year, a total cap over the three-year program of $900 million. Now, what you don't get in one year, you can't get in a second, so it is capped each individual year at $350.
And it is the realization, $159 realization, across the four products, the four main products that we sell. And so what we've done is given you an indicative calculation here, so you can see how this plays out. Broadly, by reference to the $350 million potential payment, we are tracking off the back of this quarter to about a third of that overall. So this is designed to give you risk mitigation on the downside, but obviously upside sharing in the event that prices go higher. So you can see there the amount payable to BMA, and this is subject to, obviously, verification. But in broad terms, it's. You can see we're tracking at $44 million.
More or less, if you think about a third of the total is where we're tracking based on the prices that we see today. Now, that is on the anniversary of the transaction, so second of April through the second of April, but is actually paid in July, or three months later, allowing time for everybody just to be happy with the calculation and then payment that will be made. So that just hopefully satisfies everyone's curiosity in terms of how that's going and how it functions. But if there are any further questions on that, we can deal with it as well. But 35 cents of every dollar over $1.59, and that is the realized price over all the product outcomes over the twelve-month period from the anniversary of the transaction.
Now, of course, in the quarter, a significant highlight is the signing of agreements for the formation of a joint venture around Blackwater. Now, that was, that's a terrific outcome for us. We're really pleased with it, to have two Tier One end users in Nippon Steel and JFE wanting to take a piece of Blackwater and secure offtake for themselves. Now, you saw the announcement, but you saw obviously the price realizations that we've been able to achieve, so a handsome premium on what we paid, and really reflective of the desire of the end users to put their foot on volume in a market they understand as well as we do, that is certainly supply constrained. And so certainty for them of the offtake is front of mind.
So we're very pleased. In fact, I was in Japan earlier in the week, and two happier incoming joint ventures partners, it would be hard to find, I say. So very, very good to see that come to fruition. And as I said before, we're expecting completion and money in the bank in Q3 FY 2025. Quickly on the development projects, I'll just focus over the page quickly on Narrabri. That's been the highlight for the quarter, so at long last, despite the legal wranglings that have been going on, vexatious claims as they may well be, they do consume time. But fortunately, the federal minister has finally cleared the way for the Narrabri Stage 3 extension project.
So nice to actually have that now in your pocket. Arduous process as it has been. Now, what that does mean is that there have been some delays, and I've said before that the period for a walk-on, walk-off type scenario from a longwall perspective, that window is now shortened because of the delays, so we don't think actually that's prospective, so that capital will be pushed out. So, our anticipation is to come back to you with capital guidance the second half. Oh, sorry, when we announce the results for the first half on the capital required for Stage Three. Now, that when I say that window is closed for the walk-on, walk-off scenario, that means there's no immediate need for a new longwall.
We continue to use this longwall and examining options as to whether or not there's actually that longwall can be used for the remainder of the mine's life. But as I say, we'll come back to the market with that with the half year results on the outlook for capital for Narrabri and Stage Three in particular. Winchester South, nothing particular going on there other than again consumption of available resources in preparing for the normal legal wrangling that goes with the approval of the state-based approval for Winchester South. Very happy to see it, but obviously anybody who's raised an objection during the exhibition period has an opportunity to chance their arm in court, and we will be defending the project vigorously.
In the meantime, obviously pursuing the EPBC approval as fast as we can. We're all that, very good, very good quarter on both sides of our business, New South Wales and Queensland. Very pleased with that. I'm sure there'll be lots of questions. The guidance remains unchanged. As you can see, we're tracking, we're tracking well on all respects there. We've got the production table there at the back of this report, and then over the page is also the equity coal sales and realized pricing table for you. With that, I'll bring it to a close, and we'll get the Q&A session going, please, operator. 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 from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Oh, thank you for the call. Good morning, team. My first question was around your saleable production versus ROM coal production. So, there seems to be a bit of a mismatch there. Is there any color you can provide on that in terms of, is this a timing impact, or are you trying to build some ROM inventories that are gonna stay with us for some time, so there might not be a full reversal in the coming quarters? That's the first one.
Rahul, could you be a bit more specific just with that? Are you talking about Queensland in particular? Is that what? I think that's what you're talking about.
Even at the group level, Paul, if you look, you did 9.6 million tons of ROM coal production. Sellable coal production was about 7.1, and then obviously you had a bit of a mismatch across assets, so I was just trying to figure out whether there is some kind of a ROM build here, or is this purely just timing?
Look, I think I'll just pull it apart. I understand where you're going with that. So there's a tale of two stories, of course, with now a much larger business. New South Wales is proceeding as planned. I mean, it's not got a lot of stock. In fact, we will be intending to build a bit of stock during the course of the balance of this year. So there's a relatively seamless, if you like, delivery of ROM production through the washing process. Obviously, with the yield difference, gives rise to the sellable, and off it goes into the customer's ship. In Queensland, of course, we're outperforming, and that's very good, and that's nice to see the build of stock.
We pulled that down very quickly, obviously with Daunia, because we were railing at a rate above the monthly and quarterly rate that you would expect us to see. But, of course, both mines are performing nicely, so it's really just a matter of the sales team keeping in front of that. So, there's not an intent to build stock for any impending reason. So, it's really just the fact that these mines are gaining momentum, and the sales profile will just play out the way it should. So, it's really just a timing issue, but a sign of success, I have to say, from the Queensland operations that are outperforming.
Excellent. Okay. And look, the second one was just around production. So, if we think about Narrabri, you flagged an additional two weeks shut. So just wanted to get a bit more color in terms of what that will achieve. Obviously, the mine performed quite well this period. And then, just to follow up there on Maules, in terms of the Maules Mine Plan, was there any change? Because we received guidance very recently, and at that time, it wasn't flagged, but it was a first half, second half split, so just wanted to know sort of how that came about. Thanks.
Yep. Yep, I'll deal with that in the two parts that it comes, Rahul. So Narrabri doing nicely, as you can see, consistent, which is what we want. So slightly up on the last quarter, which is nice. You've essentially got this quarter before we move into the changeout. And so you'll see us chipping away there. More or less, we're expecting the changeout to commence around the end of January. And so that gives you essentially a four-month, you know, this quarter plus a month of production before you move into that eight-week period. As you know, that's normally six weeks, but we've banged another two weeks on the end of that because we do wanna bring some of those chocks to surface, as we mentioned.
Some of that work is difficult to conduct underground, so it is better that we bring some of them up. So that's why we put another two weeks into the schedule. That should see us with a quarter remaining of production in the year. So that looks pretty good. As far as Maules Creek goes, no, we didn't give guidance about phasing, never do, quarter to quarter. But there's nothing, no particular change at Maules Creek that anyone should be worried about. It's just that, as for those who recall the shape of the mining lease at Maules Creek, it does pinch down into a point down in the southwest corner.
We've been obviously working feverishly to try and clear that out because that is critical for in-pit dumping capacity for the mine in the short to medium term, and so all our efforts were devoted to making sure we cleared out that area, which we had done, and now we can redirect our focus and stripping capacity to extending the strike length of the mine, which is gonna be a productivity benefit, and so we're moving into the north and the east, so that is just a timing-related matter, but it's important work, and you'll see the benefits of it over the balance of the year and years to come, because improving the strike length will make the mine more productive, so no, sorry, we didn't give you any quarter-on-quarter guide, but well, we haven't never done that.
But yeah, so the numbers at 2.2 is certainly a little lower than what you would have seen. Obviously, Q4 is large. Q4 will be big in this year also. But that is according to the plan. So moving, you know, all... as I said, all the mines are doing what they're supposed to be doing in accordance with those plans.
Got it. Okay, that's very clear. Thank you very much. I'll pass it on.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Paul Young, from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Morning, Paul. First question on Blackwater. Had a really good quarter from a run-of-mine perspective, and I know you've spoken about the two excavators that you're commissioning this quarter. Is there anything else you want to call out from a perspective of just one quarter in now of owning the asset into the new year, just how the dragline fleet's performing, all the pre-strip trucks and coal mining trucks? Anything else to call out on that asset? I mean, considering that I think after this quarter, it probably actually should do better even next quarter.
Look, we are gaining momentum, Paul. Yeah, look, it's very pleasing to see the team is doing a terrific job. We've had two quarters now of ownership. Obviously, only one in this year, but you know, the June quarter, we're very pleased, and that was a nice step up on what the mine had been doing in for the previous nine months and prior to that, so productivity improvements are good, and that's even before you actually see the benefit of the extra stripping capacity that we're bringing online here, so yeah, no, nothing particular going on there other than just it is a pit that people are very enthusiastic, and they're wanting to see the mine succeed.
Despite the fact that we are doing some heavy lifting there in reshaping both mines, but Blackwater, of course, you know, I just think that it really does bode well for future quarters and years because we're starting to see you know, the plans being executed in accordance with the way we'd like to see it done. Yeah, look, very good signs. There's nothing particular, Ian, that you wanted to add?
I know, obviously, we, you know, we talked about changing the blasting, the contractor that went successfully. And we thought we'd use the opportunity of the dry season to actually bring some more capacity in there, and that's gone well. So, I mean, that's obviously the prelude to getting the blasting done before we can then build on the overburden in advance. So going well.
Yeah. Yeah, Paul, Ian's commenting not just on the stripping there, but of course, the blasted inventory we want to increase. Now, we inherited a lot of drilled ground, but not blasted. And so with drilled grounds just sitting there, obviously, if you leave the drilled hole sitting there for any extended period of time, you may have to go back and do more of them. So what Ian's referring to is, and what we've noted in the quarterly report, we've brought in a second explosive provider, which is allowing us to load holes during the night. And because we do want to let this ground go and blast it, before the weather season comes and make sure we've got all that blasted ground ready to be stripped.
So they're very positive initiatives, and the team's, as I say, enthusiastic and they're encouraged by what they are seeing they're able to achieve.
Okay. Yeah, good stuff, Paul. Second question on sales volumes and also cost guidance. Just sticking with Blackwater, you know, sales improved, but just based on the Gladstone export data during the quarter, I feel Blackwater done a little bit better, but, you know, yeah, that's a timing thing, it's a big mine, so the sales probably will come through. But your unit costs are based on sales volumes, not production. So, you know, the fact that sales at the group level were probably, you know, in line with what everyone was expecting, that probably tells me that your absolute costs are probably coming in a little bit under, too, versus expectations. Is that correct?
So if you can just maybe help us all just around, you know, why the cost tracking to the bottom end. Is that? I presume it's Queensland and absolute cost coming in a bit under.
Yeah. Yeah, look, you're bang on there, Paul. I mean, it's a convergence of factors, as you mentioned there. I mean, the building momentum, of course, so that's great. So the sales volumes, as you say, we've got good stocks now down at Gladstone, so you'll see that materialize in the coming quarter. So very, very positive. Productivity improvements are bringing those costs down anyway. Then on top of that, there's the overt cost reduction activity that's going on there as well. So the convergence of all of that, as you say, the cost line is driven by the sales line, and so the opportunity for further downward pressure on the cost is definitely there.
Okay. Thanks, Paul. I appreciate that, and thanks, Ian.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Jonathan Sharp from CLSA. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning, Paul and team. Just the first question, just with the BMA payments, I suspect I know the answer to this, but just want to confirm it. That you'll have to make 100% of the continued payments to BMA and not 70%. Can I just clear that up, please?
Yep, yep. That's, that's right, Jonathan. The liability sits with us, with BMA. So the incoming joint venturers obviously are paying their share and paying their share based on the price that we've struck. So we will be liable for that. But we are taking that money off the table from them, obviously upfront, as part of the purchase price consideration, which will conclude in Q3. So we will have their money for the entirety of that in the bank. And I note that obviously it's not. They also had to take a view on the upside sharing arrangement. So included in that is a portion of that, and obviously, it's tracking to lower than expected, which will be an opportunity for us to do better as a result of that as well.
Now, obviously, we'd be incentivized to pay the whole thing, but, you know, that mechanism is designed to obviously minimize the downside in a lower price environment. And, but the price we're receiving from our new friends is inclusive of the view that they took at the time of the sale, which is higher than what we're ultimately paying at the moment. Does that make sense?
That makes complete sense. Thank you for that. And just a second question on Narrabri. That makes sense that you're going to eight weeks with just how many supports are coming to the surface, even just percentage-wise? And can I just confirm it isn't due to any development discontinuity, it is due to hydraulic health? And just with that, will it be a hard stop after eight weeks, or is timing dependent on maintenance completion?
Okay, I'll have a crack at answering the three of those. So circa eighty chocks coming to the surface is a very program. I think sort of roughly twenty got a little bit of structural work and some hydraulics, and the others are hydraulic hosing. We've done a lot of that hydraulic hose type work underground already as we flagged. So that's the answer to that. Look, unfortunately, you can't just say there's a magic stop date for a longwall move. I mean, you've got to have it all in there and get it running, but there's been a lot of work done by the teams. I mean, we do have a few spare chocks.
They've been sent to the off-site repair places and, you know, and we've done some practicing to figure out how long that's gonna take and capabilities and all the rest of it. And we are sharing that workload against a couple of facilities, so I'm confident that, you know, the work's being done in the background around that. And there was a third question.
Development float.
Oh, development float. Yeah, that's not an issue. The block's ready to go, as we speak now, the next block. So that's not a problem.
Yeah. I think just the only thing to add there is just as Ian's alluding to, there's obviously you've got to share the labor and the actual equipment to bring trucks to surface, and that's not something we hold on site every day. And so, a lot of work has gone into making sure that when we schedule our change out, it's not obviously clashing with anybody else's change out at the same time, who uses that same equipment or those same service providers. So, we are in a good zone in terms of being able to procure the labor we need and also the equipment for transportation of the trucks to surface, to be able to get that done in the time period we're allowed.
So as I say, there's no hard stop but, you know, that's. We've allowed an extra couple of weeks for this important work, and we believe that's sufficient to get it done. And the team is very much focused on making sure that all the procurement activities and the parts and labor are all there well before the change-out commences.
Yeah, and I think unlike the previous move, where we were really moving the Longwall block from the deepest part of the mine all the way up to the shallowest, we're really just moving to the adjacent block, and the stuff that's got to come to the surface is, the block basically is the bottom of the drift, so it makes some of that process easier.
Yeah.
Okay. Makes sense. Thanks. I'll pass it on.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Rob Stein, from Macquarie. Please go ahead.
Hello, team. First question, just on realized pricing. So, note that your sales mix for Queensland in the quarter was 55% of Queensland operations, yet you still achieved a number pretty close to 85%. Can you just provide a bit of comment on that, given that, you know, the acquisition deck had a much higher, much higher target of a HCC mix, but similar types of realization?
Yeah, Rob, there's a bit of timing in that. Just to go through the numbers just quickly for you again. You know, of the met coal out of Queensland, the percentage split of the met coal was 45% hard coking and semi-hard, and they realized 91% of the PLV hard coking. And the semi-soft component of that, the 43% of the met coal, achieved 75%. And obviously there's a balancing thermal component of it, 2% that I mentioned there before. Overarchingly, we've achieved, when you aggregate all that together, we've got 84% realization of the PLV hard coking price.
Now, in terms of product splits, there's always, there's always a little bit of timing in that, and this quarter does have a little bit more of Daunia in it, of course, because we've recovered that ground that we weren't able to deliver in the June quarter because of the pathway issues that we previously discussed. But we're pretty much on track with the splits that we've given you in the past. But there will be timing differences from time to time in all of that.
But overarchingly, we wanna make sure that everyone understands the product splits and also the realization relative to the Platts PLV hard coking coal in aggregate and separately between the two primary products out of Queensland, so that you can do your modeling.
Fair to say, even with the time lags on pricing and the like, if you were to trend up to that 65 target, you should sort of realize closer to that 90... Yeah, I know you range at 85%-90%, but you should achieve a number a bit higher to that 90% mark.
For the hard coking coal? For the hard coking coal.
Yes.
Yes, yes.
For the hard coke, yeah.
Yep, yep. Don't forget, so the Daunia has the better quality there, Rob. And so Daunia-
Yeah.
Daunia certainly, certainly achieves that level. And then you've got to blend that in, obviously, with the semi-hard. And we've given you the realizations for the semi-hard as well. And so you, you're gonna have a blended outcome between the semi-hards, which is in the early eighties, and the Daunia hard coke, which is around the ninety.
Yeah. Okay. And then, just on Maules Creek, you know, note that mine plan sequencing is never smooth. Even on a quarterly basis, it can be quite lumpy. Can you sort of provide indicative profile for the rest of the year around how you would expect to see that, sort of get back to even if it's flat year-on-year production?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, I understand, I understand there's a few questions about that. It is according to our plan, so we're not concerned at all. That's just the phasing of the mine. The split on a half-to-half basis is actually about 45-55 at Maules, just, just so you've got a reference point. But as I say, it's really just us opening up the northern extension, so that's, that's going to be a productivity benefit for us overall. So it is, it is in line with our plan. But yes, it will be 45-55 from a Maules Creek perspective for the year.
That's great. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Lyndon Fagan, from J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Paul. Yeah, first one I've got is just on the Blackwater sell down. Is there any tax on that?
Yeah, there is, Kevin.
Yeah, yeah. So the billion and eighty, I think, nets to about a billion after it.
Yeah.
So it makes the math easier, Lyndon.
Okay, that's a good one. And then just, on the Queensland cost out, you've talked about headcount reduction. In terms of the initiatives this year that are leading to the saving, do you mind just giving a bit more color on what that is?
Yeah, I'll start off and then Ian will jump in with some of this. I mean, there's a range of programs going on there, Lyndon. So, obviously, when we took the assets on, we took them as they were, and so that's everybody and as it was and acknowledging that our business is configured a little differently to how these assets were run in the past. So, there was going to be obviously some refinement that was required. So, there does in that instance mean some restructuring, and that's unpleasant work, but we are doing that. You would have seen a round of that already, and there's further ongoing as we speak.
Now, there was some duplication that came with it, just because the collapsing of OS into our EA brought about duplication there in the first instance, which needed to be dealt with. So that's just an example of the areas, but it's across the business. And I think that is being achieved because you can see the productivity of the mines, both of them, have lifted as a result. But there is further work here. So it's just the productivity side of it will obviously bring cost reductions as well.
And then, of course, our procurement team are looking at all the opportunities to try and find ways in which we can take advantage of now the large scale of the business. So it's not to say in all ways we're gonna be able to approximate what BMA was necessarily able to achieve across their group, but adding in New South Wales into the procurement that we've got, we'll see opportunities as well. So, Ian?
Yeah. So, sort of just building on what Paul said there, I mean, we've got a structured program in place, and obviously, some of the initiatives are a little bit more complex or will take a little bit longer. But in specifically, I think you were asking questions about headcount. We flagged to you initially the first round of restructure was, I think, around about a hundred and ninety people. That's largely occurred now. There's still some tailwinds with a few of those things, but largely done. And we are in the early stages of, I guess, restructuring our asset management part of the business across sites and the group roles, and that will lead to a reduction of just over a hundred people, and that's being worked through as we speak now.
Yeah. And on top of that, then there's the attrition. The attrition that features as part of the business since the time that we agreed to buy it. So we've been also allowing that to do some of the work for us as well. So the numbers that Ian's just recounted to you are the numbers of initiatives explicitly that we are driving since our ownership. But we've been allowing the attrition also to assist us in that regard on top of that.
Yeah. Thanks, thanks for the detail. Just a quick follow-up. How much of the saving relates to people cuts?
I'll give you an indicative place marker there. The original 200 that Ian's referred to represents about AUD 50 million annually. Now, there are redundancies and so on that need to be a part of that, and so you're talking call it 13-15 million dollars. So, the net of the two is obviously what you receive in the first year from a benefit perspective, and then obviously the gross number is what you receive then after. Does that help?
And there's also-
Yeah, thanks.
There's the, I'll call it, the associated cost, you know, air travel, accommodation, and some of the other things that flow onto that, rather than just salaries as well.
Yeah, that's right. I was just referring to the salary-
Yeah.
The salary piece of it. That's right.
Hundred million.
Yeah. Thanks. Thanks a lot, guys. I'll pass it on.
Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone. Your next question comes from Glyn Lawcock from Barrenjoey. Please go ahead.
Morning, Paul. Just a couple of quick ones. Firstly, maybe one for Kevin. Just in the quarter, was there anything other than the dividend payment that went out that was exceptional in the quarter? And then is the stamp duty still due in the second quarter, and just to refresh my memory, what that amount is? Thanks.
Yeah, I can refresh you. The stamp duty is due to be paid in the second quarter, so that should be about AUD 300 million, if you want to do the math it's easy, it's AUD 360 million. It'll be a touch less than that, but you don't need to be down to that level. In that period, in the period post, there was the dividend that was paid out, it was AUD 104 million. There were some other things that we bought, about AUD 30 million for employee share plan, which would have been topping that up. But aside from that, no. No.
All right. So if you net off the payment to BHP, it's about a couple of hundred million, at least, cash generation in the quarter.
It was a good quarter for cash generation. Glyn, when I look at it, I've got a stock build across the business. I never took any action on the receivable side of the world to cash out the LC back sales. It's a good quarter.
Yeah. And then just talking about the operational quarter, then, up in Queensland. I mean, 21 million tons of ROM annualized, you know, top end, above the top end of your guidance for the year. Was there anything that we should think about that means you can't hold the September quarter all the way through the-
Yeah, Glyn, I mean, the most obvious one is weather.
Yep.
And, you know, as you know, that up there, it straddles between, you know, Q3 and Q4. And so we've made provision for that.
You know, as we said at the outset of the year, we are positioning our guidance relatively conservatively, and that was a deliberate and open statement on that, so the fact that we're doing well is very good. We don't see any reason why we can't continue to drive further productivity improvements here. It's just the beginning, but yeah, I'm just cautious on people just timing it by fall, given that the weather is before us, and that'll be our first time to deal with that, but the people on the ground are well accustomed to dealing with it, of course, but that does add an element of unpredictability, at least just to a surface level.
You can see the comments were made there before just about stocks and things. So this, to the extent that there's weather, particularly as it relates to Blackwater in particular, we'll always have good stocks down there, so we're able to sell through any particular, you know, temporary outages that maybe weather has delivered to us.
Yeah, and I appreciate your railings have picked up, but you've actually now built a million tons of finished coal in six months. Is that replenishing finished stocks, or is that meaning you think you can unwind over the remainder of the year?
I think we can unwind. We've definitely had a build there, which is very positive. The momentum is good and on our side, so that's nice. The rails, the railing system is working well. And it's just a timing related matter. The sales team are all over it. And so I feel confident that we'll be moving that, but we do have an opportunity to draw some of that stock down, as you mentioned.
Okay. Thanks very much.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Chen Jiang from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Paul and Kevin. Congrats on the strong quarter for the Queensland operations. Just one question, Narrabri Stage 3 expansion program. You made a comment earlier at the start that there's a decision pending whether to use the current longwall. I'm just wondering, I know you will provide updates, you mentioned at the end of the first half of the 2025 results, but regardless of your decision, will that impact your CapEx guidance for AUD 800 million? Thank you.
Yes. Yep. Yeah, thanks, Chen. That's a good question. Yes, I was talking to that before when I made the comments that at the half-year result, we will have in our discussion for you revised guidance on the CapEx for stage three. And as I mentioned earlier, because of the delays in the approval process, lamentable as they are, what it has meant is the window for the walk-on, walk-off scenario has shortened, and we don't believe that is long enough now to justify accelerating the capital for the new longwall. And so alternatively, we're actually looking at plans that may allow us to actually extend the life of the existing longwall for longer.
And so, at the half year, you'll see us. We'll definitely have a discussion about what our outlook for capital will be with that revised plan.
Okay, that's good to hear. So I guess, which means there's a downside risk to your-- I mean, reversing downside to your original CapEx, which has different, mining methods planned for that AUD 800 million.
There will be a lower CapEx requirement for Narrabri going forward.
Okay, excellent. Thanks for that. Thank you. I'll appreciate it. I'll pass now.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Daniel Morgan, from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Good day, Paul, and thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to, on the weather planning, are you able to, I guess, provide a bit of guidance on the number of weather days you forecast when providing guidance that kind of goes into, you know, annual production targets? Is that something you're able to kind of outline?
Yeah, Daniel, Ian can do that.
Yeah, I'll jump in there. So look, in Queensland, as Paul said, I mean, it's still a little bit new to us, but the teams up on site are familiar with it. So the way we've done our forecast is, we have different allowances for the different months, quarters to reflect the wet season. You know, I think that there might be some interest in the first quarter, so yeah, it's generally drier. And so our allowances were less there. But you know, if I look at Daunia, we probably had about 150% on top of what we allowed for there, and Blackwater, probably about 200%, but we were still able to achieve the results we've got.
I think that the allowances that we put forward for the rest of the year well and truly reflect what's average. You know, if we don't see anything different to that, you know, should be no issues in and around delivering sort of what you've been seeing.
Yeah, okay. And definition of average in that context is, you know, last couple of years, like, what, three, five years averages? 'Cause, I'd probably note the last couple of years have been elevated rainfalls, depending on the time I was on your lookout. So if, you know, no one here is a weather expert, but, you know, if you were forecasting that out, if it was, you know, average on ten years is different to average on three years.
I think the last few years is probably a reasonable assessment to what that would be. And, you know, I mean, you've got a dragline pit too, right? So depending on the weather and what it looks like, draglines can keep swinging when it's wet, right? So there's a few variables there, but there have been allowances made, and I guess that that will be one of the things as we move forward and get to know these operations better, that that we'll fine-tune. But I'm not concerned about what we've got there now.
But that's been factored into our guidance, and, as I say, the people on site are comfortable with the rhythm of this, even though it may be new to the corporate end of Whitehaven, but certainly not new news to our people on site.
Yep, no, understood. Thank you. And I just wanted to touch on last couple of, you know, last quarter, you were talking about building last stock and inventory at Blackwater for the two excavators that are there now. I just wanted to get a sense of, you know, from the, from the cost front, I would have expected that to have you know, resulted in an increased operating cost at the site. You know, the verbal commentary is that that hasn't really eventuated. So I guess how, how, you know, have you brought on additional blasting capacity? And when was that brought on in the quarter? And how has that kind of translated into your cost base there?
I guess directionally, would you expect costs at Blackwater to increase quarter on quarter into December?
Look things, Daniel, there, the first of the two big diggers has only just walked off the commissioning pad at the end of September, so that's the impact of that, and the benefit of that, will be seen in the coming quarters. We obviously do want to strip. We do want to strip harder than what the mine has been doing in the last couple of years, in particular, to restore those balances. So there will be a cash, there will be a cash impact of that. But we are going to, we are going to build overburden in advance, which is deferred, and then unwound, obviously, as production occurs. But, the OBIA balance is lower than we think it needs to be, so we will build that.
So there will be a cash impact that will be different from the OpEx impact that you'll see as we unwind and advertise that across the related tons that come from the stripping activity. But you won't see that this quarter, of course, but the coming quarters, as I say, the second of those two diggers is... ends in February?
Oh, no. Should be end of this year. December.
Quicker.
In addition to that, we've also had four trucks committed. Two have arrived, two should be going, the second two shortly. And I mean, I think maybe more color. I mean, the additional blasting that we're talking about was factored into the cost given in guidance. I mean, that's always been part of the plan. There's nothing new there. It maybe, you know, we've accelerated sort of towards the end of Q1 with the additional crews that we've brought on. Unit rates similar, but just doing a little bit more there to utilize the dry period that Paul touched on.
Yeah, but they'll just front end a little bit of cost, which will ease in the second half once we've got the blasting away.
Yeah, no, perfect, but makes a lot of sense and that's good, better color, and maybe just finishing off, can you maybe just touch on the coal markets? You mentioned that you're seeing that incremental India buying and increased trader activities in the market. Just interested in that, and I guess, you know, kind of coming into the end of the year, it's traditionally a season where met coal pricing has reacted quite positively, and I don't think you've seen those signals kind of translating through. Maybe can you just provide a bit more color on, you know, what demands you're seeing from, I guess, India and your other export markets as well, and you know, what your expectations are internally for that?
Yeah. Yeah, not too much to add to what I said before there, Daniel, other than that, yeah, we are seeing the trader activity. That is, that is an in-house view, obviously, rather than something that you should take it as such, that when we do see that type of activity, they're usually trying to front end a tightening in the market. They're taking a position and building stocks. So that's what we're seeing. But we are seeing the Indians reemerging in the market, so it would appear that they, the monsoon is behind them, and that they want to continue to secure more coal. That's good. I think the swing factor, as we all acknowledge, is China and what it does.
Obviously, people not just in the coal sector but generally are looking for something perhaps a little bit more fulsome in terms of their pronouncements about the stimulus that they're engaging or going to engage in. We're keen to see that. Having said that, you know, as an aside, Whitehaven itself hasn't had a presence in the Chinese market, if you like, from a sales perspective. We have actually just taken a couple of sales into Queensland, sorry, into China now, out of our Queensland operations, which is good to see. That's quite positive.
I mentioned before that at the high CV market, if we flip over to the thermal side, that is actually seeing incremental buying out of Japan, so that is positive also, and of course, let's see what happens with the winter period, obviously, across the northern markets, so that should see some tightening across both prices, but certainly we're seeing a very steady market and, you know, the thermal market is in contango, so let's see how that plays out over the coming colder months.
Awesome. Thanks, Paul and Kevin. Congrats on the good quarter. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Glyn Lawcock, from Barrenjoey. Please go ahead.
Oh, thanks, Paul, for allowing me to double-dip.
Of course.
Just on Narrabri. Obviously, not buying another longwall must be as lower CapEx. I'm sure there must be an offset on the other side, otherwise we wouldn't have done it in the first place. Does that come with higher cost, do you think, because you're trying to nurse a longwall all the way through?
Yeah, that's a reasonable thing to think about, Glenn. If we can do that, that certainly would be preferable. So yes, there is a bit of- there's going to be a maintenance aspect to that. And you know, so it's right to think about what that would mean from a sustaining CapEx perspective if we were to use this longwall to the end of the mine life. So yes, we will reprofile that for you with the half-year results when we talk about the reset of Narrabri Stage 3 CapEx.
Okay. And then just a quick one, just on the New South Wales pricing. Now that Werris Creek's out of the portfolio-
Mm-hmm.
I would've thought you're only selling, you know, better than GC NEWC quality coal. You've got the higher energy, the low ash.
... So I would expect you now to be getting a premium. Was it something in the quarter? Just, just timing because the price ran up or, or what? Because that should be the case now, shouldn't you, get a premium?
Yep, yep, 100% right. Yeah, 100% right, Cliff. We should be getting a premium over and above, over and above GC NEWC in an ordinary market. That's, that's for sure. Whereas obviously was the lowest quality coal that we had. Now that's gone. That's to be replaced by Vickery. Obviously, Vickery tonnes are still ramping, so that will come in at a premium. Now, the only, the only variation to that, is, when we sell Narrabri tonnes. As you know, Narrabri obviously sits at or around the bottom end of the GC spectrum, so around that 58, 50 sort of level, but it can dip below.
Our capacity to bring that into the GC market is at times constrained by how much GC or better material that we have available in the group to blend that up and keep it into the GC market. So you will see us from time to time. We have customers who like, you know, that product on a straight basis rather than a blended basis. So they are sub GC outcomes. Now, the more Vickery, of course, that we have available to us, the more compelling that GC plus premium proposition that our book will represent becomes. And so you're right to point that out.
All right. Thanks again.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Rob Stein, from Macquarie. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys. Thanks for the second run. In terms of the yields, the rolling yields, for Queensland, is that a twelve-month rolling yield that's still including BHP's operational data? And the reason I ask is that, if I sort of look at your ROM through to obviously saleable coal production, which you talked about increasing ROM stock, just trying to sort of quantify how much ROM stock build you have there, that sort of gets created, noting that your yields were flattish, if not up, but yet obviously the ROM numbers were significantly up on saleable coal production.
Yep, yep. Yeah, got that. Yeah, the ROM... Sorry, the yield numbers are ours only, not BHP numbers there, Rob, so that's just our experience. And, yeah, you're right. There's been a good build of stocks there, so that's very positive. So there's always that variation of the split between we give you ROM stocks in to- or we give you stocks in total. That includes ROM and obviously product together. So yeah, we acknowledge that there's some variation. They're just timing differences that you need to work your way through. But, you know, on a short-term horizon, it doesn't-- we don't bother about it so much. Just we give you the sales number, and that's that gives you your ability to work out what's going to be translating into cash, you know?
Yeah. So, so if I get back from the ROM side, if I take saleable coal production and multiply... well, divide it by the yield, I should sort of get theoretically how much ROM went through the wash plant, as, as you would expect, and then the delta between that and ROM coal production relates to ROM coal stock at site.
Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's right.
That's-
That's the theory of it. Yep, that's the theory of it.
Yep.
But there will be variations from quarter to quarter, and I'll just remind you that the two mines in Queensland are different in the sense that there's no real material stock support for Daunia, whereas Blackwater does have, you know, a dedicated stockpile facility like NCIG, so we do keep healthy stocks there.
Gotcha. Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you. That concludes our question and answer session. I'll now hand back to Mr. Flynn for closing remarks.
Thanks very much, everybody, for your questions and interest in the quarter. A very good quarter from our perspective. Nice to see all the mines are doing what they need to be doing or in the instance of Queensland, even better. So , if there's any further questions that you have for us, you know where to find us. We look forward to engaging with you over the next few weeks about a very solid quarter. Thanks very much.