The warning came as the longwall equipment, buried since March, was announced recovered on August 3. Longwall mining in the first C seam block has been stopped since March 2000. The longwall was relocated to the C seam from the overlying A seam in mid 1999.

QCT has decided not to mine the C seam saying a review of the performance creates uncertainty that the seam can be mined using longwall technology currently available to the company, at current coal prices.

"Previous mining experience and exploration information indicate that incidents such as those experienced in the C seam should not be experienced in the A seam. Development of the next A seam blocks at Kenmare is proceeding under an accelerated plan. This will minimise the period when the longwall equipment will be idle following its removal from the C seam," QCT said.

QCT was reviewing other methods to exploit the C seam reserves, such as the bord and pillar method currently in use at Laleham.

Kenmare has meanwhile put out to tender the development of a single gateroad as well as extraction of part of the A seam resource. It is thought that the strategy will be to complete A seam reserves which are not amenable to longwall mining.

Earlier the company announced that fourth quarter shipments had dropped by 16% to 3.82 Mt, largely because of problems at Kenmare. Production from the company's South Blackwater open cut and Kenmare was 40% less in the quarter than in the previous year.

Meanwhile, QCT said coal shipments from South Blackwater in the first half of the current financial year were expected to match shipments in the second half of 1999-2000. The company said shipments from the central Queensland mine should return to the higher levels experienced in 1998-1999 once mining of the A seam began.

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