Q2 2025 Whitehaven Coal Ltd Production Report Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Rahul Anand - Morgan Stanley Australia Ltd - Analyst : Hi. Good morning, team. Thanks for the call. Two questions from me. Firstly, the Narrabri longwall changeover, my understanding was that the changeover or rather the refurb of the longwall and the longwall move was going to happen during this quarter. Obviously, now you're talking about a push in this February just wanted to understand some of the drivers there and if you can overlay that with perhaps the acid health, obviously, you had a AFC chain failure also back in March. And there are considerations still to extend that longwall life. So how are you seeing that? That'll be great. That's the first one and then the second, just on Queensland, you've talked about optimization of rail logistics. So where are you seeing the constraints in the system now? And if you can help us understand how that's progressing alongside the weather impacts? That's the second one. Thanks.

Question: Rahul Anand - Morgan Stanley Australia Ltd - Analyst : Just before you go on to the weather, Paul, in terms of the adult pathways, if we do exclude them, where do you think the constraints are in the system and are you getting everything you've signed up for now, or? We're going to see a bit of variability in that continuing.

Question: Rahul Anand - Morgan Stanley Australia Ltd - Analyst : And just finally on the weather. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. JANUARY 28, 2025 / 11:30PM, WHC.AX - Q2 2025 Whitehaven Coal Ltd Production Report Call

Question: Rahul Anand - Morgan Stanley Australia Ltd - Analyst : Got it. Okay. So it's very short term. You, you're envisioning only two to three weeks. So that's pretty clear. Okay. Thank you very much. I'll pass it on.

Question: Paul Young - Goldman Sachs Australia Pty Ltd - Analyst : Good morning, Paul and I think Kevin there is also good morning, Kev Pauls and just overall, just guide us there for the full year and great, great to see the conviction that you can actually hit the top end. But I think the second half does imply that you'll run a mine, coal production will be just a repeat of the first half. So I understand you had the impacts from lightning and actually some of your peers called out the same thing in the Southern Bowen. So it's consistent, but where's typically in Queensland is more February March, April. So I'm just curious about what is a conviction around that second half will be a repeat of the first half, is it, which is it to do with the fact that your blasted waste stocks are higher? And also you're getting those a couple of the new, I think it's excavators shovels in the door this half. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. JANUARY 28, 2025 / 11:30PM, WHC.AX - Q2 2025 Whitehaven Coal Ltd Production Report Call

Question: Paul Young - Goldman Sachs Australia Pty Ltd - Analyst : No problem, Paul. And just the second one on thermal coal realizations. I know you called out Vickery and what did you get. But just -- I thought they might have been a little bit better considering that Werris Creek, I presume Werris Creek volumes have all been sold and Maules did reasonably well and it gets a decent premium on both ash and energy. So can you just -- is there anything else to highlight just on the court about why your realizations are in line with index?

Question: Paul Young - Goldman Sachs Australia Pty Ltd - Analyst : Okay, great. Okay. Thanks, Paul. That's it for me. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. JANUARY 28, 2025 / 11:30PM, WHC.AX - Q2 2025 Whitehaven Coal Ltd Production Report Call

Question: Jonathan Sharp - CLSA - Analyst : Yeah, good morning Paul, Kevin, and Ian. Just a first question Queensland price realization. So looks like there was a 10% variance with the met coal price up there that you realize compared to consensus, consensus was a bit higher. So can you just give us some details on why this would be? So what are we missing? Was it driven by product mix or something else?

Question: Jonathan Sharp - CLSA - Analyst : Okay. Thanks, Paul. That's clear. And just another question whether just interested in how the weather has been in January, given this quarter is historically, the lowest ROM production in Queensland. And I think it's, I think it's well known that this quarter is the lowest and just also consensus currently has Q3 production to be higher than Q4 at least at Blackwater. So would there you, would you expect that or is there any reason for this or are you expecting Q4 to be higher? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. JANUARY 28, 2025 / 11:30PM, WHC.AX - Q2 2025 Whitehaven Coal Ltd Production Report Call

Question: Jonathan Sharp - CLSA - Analyst : Yes. No worries. Thanks, Paul. Thanks, Kevin. I'll leave it there.

Question: Lyndon Fagan - JPMorgan - Analyst : Good morning, everyone. Paul just to pick up on your comments around improved products back in Queensland. And can you talk about how material that might be to price realizations? Obviously, 79% year to date. You said that is likely to fade i.e., we, we're in the mid 70s somewhere below that for the rest of the year. But, but how does this evolve over the medium term?

Question: Lyndon Fagan - JPMorgan - Analyst : Sounds good. The other one I had was just on the unit cost, obviously pleasing to see it tracking again at the lower end of guidance. Is there any color you're able to share on how that looks at a regional basis, i.e., Queensland, New South Wales? Thanks.

Question: Lyndon Fagan - JPMorgan - Analyst : Thanks, Paul. I'll pass it on.

Question: Robert Stein - Macquarie Research - Analyst : Oh, just asking again about realization and product mix. You aggregate the HCC and SHCC line in the Queensland at 63%. So we've seen a, a skew higher in terms of that proportion of, of sales yet yet realizations are down. Can you perhaps provide AAA an indicative guide on how much SHCC was was produced in that, in that mix versus HEC or what the, what the realizations of that SHCC were? Because we're seeing, I it's not apparent from looking at the index moves in pricing over the over the I guess the three quarters under your ownership.

Question: Robert Stein - Macquarie Research - Analyst : Is it, is it fair to say that the that the drawdown of stocks to, to keep sales high versus the interruptions you had at black water in the quarter were a key reason for that variance.

Question: Paul Young - Goldman Sachs Australia Pty Ltd - Analyst : Okay, thank you.

Question: Glyn Lawcock - Barrenjoey Capital Partners Pty Ltd - Analyst : Morning Paul. I'm going to have a crack at the realization as well. But I just want to focus on HCC and the semi hard coking coal, 83% realization for the half that implies around 76% realization for the December quarter in your guidance. When you bought the assets, you talked about getting 85% for Blackwater semi hard and 90% for are hard coking coal. So that suggests you should stay in the 85 to 90 range, but to get 76 in the September quarter, is that again just quarter movement or you or can you hold that 85 to 90 for those two hard coke and coal, semi hard coke and coal products, do you think?

Question: Glyn Lawcock - Barrenjoey Capital Partners Pty Ltd - Analyst : Okay. Yeah, I mean, I guess you're only looking at a three year history when you gave the guidance and so is the 10 year history better or do you think what's driving it now and what could drive that 20% discount for low vol to PLV back to 10? What do you think is driving it?

Question: Glyn Lawcock - Barrenjoey Capital Partners Pty Ltd - Analyst : Okay. That's great. And then just a quick question for Kevin, if I may just, it's going to be great when the money comes in the door. Do you have a sense at all? What the tax payment will be on that? And when you may have to make it?

Question: Glyn Lawcock - Barrenjoey Capital Partners Pty Ltd - Analyst : And when will you pay it, Kevin?

Question: Glyn Lawcock - Barrenjoey Capital Partners Pty Ltd - Analyst : Great, thanks. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. JANUARY 28, 2025 / 11:30PM, WHC.AX - Q2 2025 Whitehaven Coal Ltd Production Report Call