UK Coal plc (UKC.L) intends to restructure the business and to start consultation over the future of its Daw Mill mine. The board anticipates that this restructuring would provide a stable platform in the medium term for the group's mining and property businesses and would achieve the best value in the group for its stakeholders.
The principal objectives of the restructuring plan are to ensure a financial framework that is capable of supporting ongoing investment in each deep mine over its remaining economic life and to address the risks and volatility inherent in the mining industry. The company added that the plan is intended to isolate the operating risk of each deep mine from the group as a whole and mitigate future financial uncertainty arising from operations at Daw Mill.
Today, the Company has begun consultation on the potential closure of Daw Mill by early 2014 at the point when current and largely-developed coal panels will have been mined. Also, UK Coal has suspended developments for exploitation beyond the end of 2013 but retains the option to resume developments, re-open the mine or extend its life, to exploit the mines considerable long-term resources, which would happen only under a lower risk operating model.
Though UK Coal's other mines are performing broadly in line with view, production at Daw Mill is nearly 175,000 tonnes behind budget. To achieve UK Coal's 2012 plans, Daw Mill needs safely to increase production to target levels on its 303s coalface by May and to recover and resume production on the 32s coalface.
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by RTT Staff Writer
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