Toba Bara books 1.5 coal production in Q1

By Brigida Ernestina Elu Wea

IDX-listed coal mining firm PT Toba Sejahtera Tbk booked a coal production of 1.5 million tons in the first quarter of 2015 (Q1 2016), unchanged from the corresponding period of last year (Q1 2015)

The mine operated by subsidiary PT Adimitra Baratama Nusantara (ABN) contributed 1.1 million tons to the total production, while PT Indomining and PT Trisensa Mineral Utama (TMU) contributed 0.4 million tons and 0.3 million tons respectively, Head of Investor Relation Iwan Sanyoto said. All the mines are located in East Kalimantan.

?Generally speaking, production was running well and in line with target. While maintaining production level, we could reduce costs to cope with the price decline,? he said.

During Q1 2016, the firm booked Average Selling Price (ASP) of US$46.8 per ton, down by 20.4 percent from $58.8 per ton in Q1 2015. Meanwhile, cash cost dropped 25.3 percent to $34.8 from $46.6 per ton.

Iwan said the fall in cash cost came as a result of negotiation with contractor to carry out coal extraction with lower costs and cheaper technology. Stripping ratio stood at the level of 12.4x in Q1 2016, unchanged from the level in Q1 2015.

Another factor behind the fall in cash costs was the decrease in fuel prices as a result of the oil price drop.

?We seek to achieve 5-7 million ton production this year in line with our expectation. We shall not only increase productivity but also efficiency,? he said.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon