Xstrata Coal

Xstrata Coal is leading the way in today’s highly competitive coal industry as the world’s largest producer of export thermal coal and a significant exporter of coking coal. It is also the largest of the commodity businesses housed within Xstrata plc, a global diversified metals and mining company, listed on the London and Zurich Stock Exchanges and included in the FTSE 100 index.

Xstrata Coal produces thermal and coking coal for export and domestic use in coke making/steel production, electricity generation and industrial application. The company has interests in over thirty operating coal mines located in Australia and South Africa and employs around 10,000 people, including contractors.

With a complementary mix of underground and open cut mines which produce thermal, coking and semi-soft coal products, Xstrata Coal is Australia's leading exporter of thermal coal and South Africa's third largest coal exporter.

This strong market position is a result of carefully planned growth, with Xstrata Coal purchasing at least one new business each year since 1995. Each of these acquisitions has helped secure Xstrata Coal's position at the forefront of the industry, with the company now producing in excess of 70 million tonnes of coal each year, of which more than 50 million comes from Australia. In less than a decade, Xstrata Coal has amassed the size, strength and critical mass necessary to compete in the global market.

The company has a balanced exposure to both export and domestic markets. The export market represents around 90% of its customer base, with the Australian and South African domestic markets the remainder. Around 80% of Xstrata Coal’s Australian thermal coal is exported to major power companies and steel mills in the Pacific region including Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Xstrata Coal is one of Australia’s largest suppliers of semi soft coal to the Japanese steel industry and the second largest supplier of thermal coal to Japan, positioning Japan as the company’s largest customer.

Xstrata Coal is committed to the highest standards of health, safety and environmental performance, community cooperation and to the principles of sustainable development. Consequentially, the company recognises coal is a carbon liability and that climate change is a real international and community issue, and believes that emission reductions resulting from the use of coal are both required and achievable within a sustainable development framework.

Xstrata Coal is therefore committed to playing a part in identifying and implementing solutions to the challenge of climate change. To this end, Xstrata Coal is working together with governments, researchers and industry in Australia through the COAL21 program to develop a portfolio of options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the use of coal in electricity generation. It also collaborates in research and development programs and provides both technical and financial support to dedicated Cooperative Research Centres focused on near zero emission technologies, while supporting additional research into CO2 capture and storage.

Xstrata Coal’s genuine commitment to the best practice health, safety and environmental management, underpinned by a philosophy of sustainable development, secures the company’s position as a progressive and diversified company at the forefront of today’s global coal market.