Peabody Energy said that it expected longwall mining to begin last week at its Centurion hard coking coal mine in Australia’s Bowen Basin. The startup comes two months ahead of its original target and strengthens Peabody’s position in the seaborne met coal market.
“With a low cost structure, premium price realizations and a long mine life, Centurion immediately vaults to the top of Peabody’s coal operations and establishes a multi-decade foundation for shareholder value creation,” said Peabody President and CEO Jim Grech. “Full operations at Centurion follow years of strategic investment, and investors will now begin to benefit from this premier addition to the portfolio.”
Centurion will significantly enhance Peabody’s metallurgical coal platform with an average annual production of 4.7 million tons at estimated costs of $105 per ton over a 25-year-plus mine life. The mine benefits from an expanded integrated mine plan of 140 million tons in the coveted Goonyella Middle Seam. Centurion is targeted to deliver 3.5 million tons in 2026, ramping to its targeted 4.7‑million‑ton annual run rate by 2028.
Peabody said Centurion’s product quality and proximity to key demand nodes in Asia will result in full benchmark premium hard coking coal pricing. Peabody’s segment‑wide met coal realizations are expected to improve meaningfully from approximately 70% of benchmark in 2025 to 80% in 2026, with the potential to exceed that level as Centurion reaches full scale. The company now believes Centurion’s net present value to be $2.1 billion at $225 per metric ton benchmark pricing, an increase of more than 30% over the estimate of late 2024.
Source: www.coalage.com
