Johannesburg - Optimum Coal, South Africa's
sixth-largest coal producer, on Thursday reported a surge in full-year
earnings, boosted by higher group production and said the outlook for the coal
market remained robust.
Optimum reported diluted headline earnings per share of
201.42 cents, up from 25.08c the previous year.
"Notwithstanding various production challenges at
Optimum Collieries during the year, production at Koornfontein Mines has
exceeded our expectations," Chief Executive Mike Teke said in a statement.
Production of coal rose 26% to 13.6 million tonnes.
The company said domestic and international demand for
thermal coal is expected to remain strong on the back of healthy demand from
Asia and from South African power utility Eskom.
The miner said it expects Optimum Collieries to produce
around 5.3 - 5.5 million tonnes of export coal and 5.5 million tonnes of Eskom
coal in the current financial year, while Koornfontein Mines is expected to
produce 1.7 million tonnes of export coal and 1 million tonnes of Eskom quality
coal.
While transport remains a challenge for Optimum and other
South African coal miners, logistics group Transnet is investing heavily to
boost volumes on the coal line leading to the export terminal at Richards Bay.
South African coal miners exported 63 million tonnes of coal
last year from the Richards Bay Coal Terminal, far below its expanded capacity
of 91 million tonnes, largely due to bottlenecks on the rail line leading to
the port.
Transnet has said it plans to expand capacity on the coal
export line to 81 million tonnes by 2015, and is studying the possibility of
freeing up some 14 million tonnes of capacity on the coal line in two to three
years by moving non-coal cargo to a new line via Swaziland.
Optimum declared a special dividend of 30 cents per share.
Optimum shares are down 4.64% so far this year, compared with an 8.9% fall on JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index .