The construction of American coal company, Contura’s metallurgical mine remains on schedule despite COVID-19 related disruptions that saw its sales falling last quarter.
The company, which reported a fall in its metallurgical coal sales in Q2 2020 indicated that it will continue to focus on its shift to “higher-quality, low-cost mines” during the rest of the year.
Jason Whitehead, chief operating officer at Contura, said that the company’s No.52 mine, which added a second section for production in June, will add one more section to bring its total production sections to three by the first quarter of 2021.
In June, the company also added met coal transportation to its business after it completed the transaction to buy the Feats Loadout facility in West Virginia. The loading facility is connected to the rest of the country by CSX railroad and Contura plans to use it to enhance its low volume met coal sales in the region.
In Q2 2020, the company’s met coal sales fell to 2.90mn mt from 2.99mn mt during the same quarter last year. Moreover, sales revenue was impacted by lower met coal prices, which fell to $81.61/ton during the quarter from $92.80/ton in Q2 2019. As a result, despite a negligible difference in sales volume, Contura’s revenue from met coal sales fell to $316.4mn from $362.4mn during the same period under comparison.
The company’s consolidated adjusted EBITDA in Q2 2020 fell to $17mn from $60mn during the same quarter last year.