By Jessi Li

June 4, 2021 - Anglo American resumed longwall mining operations at its Moranbah North coking coal mine, in Queensland, Australia, the company said June 3, raising the expectations of an easing of supply tightness in Australian premium coking coals.

The company said that operations at the mine had safely restarted, in line with regulatory approvals, and production is expected to ramp up over the coming weeks.

Operations at the mine were suspended on safety concerns, following the detection of a gas leakage, S&P Global Platts reported earlier on Feb 22, 2021.

The suspension of operations was due to "a change in underground conditions" at Moranbah North Mine on Feb. 20, and the company had evacuated workers as a precaution.

Market participants said that that the resumption of operations at Moranbah North mine might ease some of the supply tightness of Australian premium coking coals observed in the market.

"I think some of the customers of these mines had previously switched for alternatives from other producers, which could have added on to the tight spot availability," a buy-side source said.

Another international trader said that the resumption of operation at Moranbah North Mine could hopefully inject more availability of premium coking coals to the market.

Meanwhile, the company also said that mining development activities at Grosvenor mine had also safely resumed earlier in the week, as part of the mine's staged approach to restarting longwall mining operations later this year.

Miner Anglo American had revised its 2021 metallurgical coal production guidance to 14 million-16 million mt from the previous estimate of 18 million-20 million mt, according to its Q1 2021 production report released April 22.

The revision to guidance reflected the suspension at Moranbah North as well as geotechnical conditions and delayed access to Grosvenor, it said in the same report.