Whitehaven Coal Limited (WHC) Q4 2021 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

I'm Paul Flynn, Managing Director and CEO of Whitehaven Coal, and welcome to this short overview of Whitehaven's results for financial year 21. Firstly, our safety performance. Our safety performance by industry standards is very good, but compared to our own aspirations of continuing to drive to zero incidents, we need to do more. The safety outcome for the group for the 12 months ending 30 June 2021 was a total recordable injury frequency rate of 5.86, primarily driven by a series of minor injuries in the second quarter. During 2021, our Gunnedah Coal Handling Plant and Rockland site, now in rehabilitation, both achieved recordable injury frequency records of 3,000 days. This is a great result and reminds us that injury-free operation is possible. We continue to focus on improving our safety performance through targeted programs that aim to increase hazard reporting and safety interactions. Both are measures focused on preventing incidents before they happen. During the past 12 months, our operations have remained COVID-19 free. So I thank all of our employees and contractors for maintaining appropriate hygiene and distancing standards. FY21 was a mixed year for both the coal market and Whitehaven from an operational perspective. During FY21, coal prices across both metallurgical and thermal coal segments have increased significantly from the lows experienced in mid 2020. The thermal coal GCNUC index, which the majority of Whitehaven's thermal coal is priced off, has more than tripled from the low of just US$48 in August of 2020, now currently reaching US$170. At an operational level, our open cut operations, Malls Creek, Tarrawonga and Werris Creek, have become more consistent and we are seeing better performance across our coal production and overburden movements...