Australian coking coal producer QCoal will maintain its Northern Hub and Byerwen coking coal complexes in Queensland, after the 28 November closure of its 1mn t/yr Cook Colliery.
QCoal's Cook Colliery closure has no impact on its other operations, a spokesperson told Argus on 2 December.
The company can produce up to 10mn t/yr of hard coking coal at Byerwen, a joint venture with Japanese producer JFE Steel. It also produces about 6mn t/yr of thermal and hard coking coal at its Northern Hub complex.
QCoal closed Cook Colliery's final production unit on 28 November because of high production costs, market pressures and high royalty rates, the company said at the time. It will move the underground mine into care and maintenance, the company added.
QCoal closed the Cook Colliery's first production unit for similar reasons in September.
The company is not the only Queensland coal producer facing production challenges. Australian producer BHP moved its Saraji South mine into care and maintenance in November because of royalty rates and coal prices.
Other Queensland coal producers are also on capital strike but not saying so publicly, Gordon Galt, director at investment firm Taurus Funds Management, told Argus.
Their spending on business purchases, community payments and government payments fell by A$5.3bn ($3.5bn) over the July 2024-June 2025 financial year. Queensland's royalty revenue fell by A$5bn over the same period, because of low coal prices.
Producers are also looking to sell or secure financing for around six mines because of cost pressures, a market participant told Argus.
