Anglo American PLC on Monday announced the restarting of its Grosvenor metallurgical coal mining operation in Queensland, Australia.

Shares in the diversified miner were up 1.1% at 3,563.00 pence in London early Monday, while its Johannesburg shares were 1.2% higher at R 737.57.

Anglo American said it had received confirmation from regulator Resources Safety & Health Queensland on Wednesday last week that longwall mining operations could now start up once more, following a gas incident which led to an explosion on a longwall face in May 2020.

Looking ahead, while export metallurgical coal production guidance for 2022 remains between 20 million and 22 million tonnes, the effect of Covid-19 early in the year and a later-than-expected resumption of operations at Grosvenor, means that output is expected to be at the lower end of guidance.

In addition, unit cost guidance for 2022 has been raised to $85 per tonne, compared to $80 previously, though down from $105 for 2021.

‘We have been working towards a safe restart at Grosvenor for several months and today we are up and running having received our regulator’s approval last week. Over the past 18 months, we have worked with leading industry experts and invested significantly in automation technology, remote operations, gas management and data analytics, introducing a number of advancements in the way underground coal mines can operate,’ said Tyler Mitchelson, chief executive officer of Anglo’s Metallurgical Coal business.

Earlier on Monday, Johannesburg-listed subsidiary Anglo American Platinum Ltd reported a strong 2021 performance, with pretax profit more than doubling to R 108.31 billion, around $7.17 billion, on net revenue which grew 99% to R 214.57 billion.

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