Corsa Coal announces financial results for 4Q23 and FY23

Corsa has filed its audited consolidated financial statements for the years ended 31 December and 2022, related management’s discussion and analysis, and its annual information form.

Kevin M. Harrigan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Corsa, commented, “Corsa’s FY23 net income of US$23.6 million was the highest since 2017 and our 2023 adjusted EBITDA of US$28.1 million was the highest since 2019. Although we were disappointed by our coal production and cash production costs in 4Q23, our full year cash production costs per tonne sold decreased from 2022 levels and we are committed to further reductions in 2024.”

“4Q23 proved to be another challenging quarter operationally at two of the company’s underground mines. As a result of adverse geological conditions at the Horning mine, an unplanned section move was made in order to relocate mining activities to an area of the mine where conditions are more conducive to higher coal production. The section move led to short-term production inefficiencies and also changed the access point to the eastern part of the reserves. The Acosta mine’s main development section encountered low coal heights. Out of seam rock had to be mined in order to create adequate height for access which required additional time and negatively impacted the production of coal while slowing the advance of the section. Equipment availability declined due to the wear and tear that mining of the rock had on the machinery. The above noted factors led to an increase in both production and maintenance costs. Based on current mining plans, the company recognises that short-term inefficiencies related to geologic conditions and development activities are expected to occur for a short period of time in 2024, as mining conditions have improved in early March. Our operational and engineering teams are focused on advancing beyond these challenges as safely and quickly as possible to areas where we expect conditions will result in improved operational performance and lower costs.”

“The company’s surface mining operations achieved their expected results in the fourth quarter and overburden removal is on pace for the return of the highwall mining machine in the first quarter of 2024. The combination of traditional surface and highwall mining should increase our production and lower costs. I am pleased that we are now in a mining sequence at the surface operations that should achieve more repeatable results.”

“The company’s focus is on productivity improvements and cost control in order to manage metallurgical coal margins in the face of lower expected realised pricing in the 2024 period, as the average price for committed and priced tonnes to date for 2024 are approximately 13% lower than 2023 realised prices. We continue our efforts to attract, train, and retain miners for our underground operations knowing that our productivity and profitability are tied to having fully staffed and experienced teams throughout our operations.”

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/20032024/corsa-coal-announces-financial-results-for-4q23-and-fy23/