Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) may increase coal production by a fourth this year assuming normalized operations and the initial impact of expansion work at its coal mine site in Antique.
SMPC CEO Isidro A. Consunji said in a text message that SMPC’s production could recover to about 10 million metric tons (MT) for 2016, or 25.31 percent more than the output last year. That is, given favorable weather conditions for maximized operating days and the initial production from the Molave pit of the mine site.
Overburden stripping (removing the top layer of rock and soil to expose the ore) is ongoing at the Molave coal mine.
Coal production is expected to start there by August or September.
Strip mining is commonly used to mine coal and other minerals when the ore body to be excavated is near the surface.
SMPC’s coal production and sales reached 7.98 million MT last year with the two-month suspension of its coal mine operations as a result of an accident in July in the Panian site.