The Australian Federal government has approved a seven-year extension of the operating life of the American producer Peabody Energy and the Chinese-Australian producer Yancoal, which produce 4.1 million tons of pulverized coal mixture (PCI) and coking coal on average in the country per year.
The two companies will be able to mine coal at the Middlemount field until 2044, according to a proposal approved by the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water Resources (DCCEEW) on February 13. The approval depends on a number of environmental conditions.
In 2025, Yancoal produced 2.6 million tons of commercial coal at the Middlemount field, which is 12% more than in 2024, according to the quarterly report dated January 19.
DCCEEW approval for the construction of the medium-sized mine was received less than a week after Peabody Energy resumed lava production at its Centurion coking coal mine with a capacity of 4.7 million tons per year after an eight-year hiatus. On February 6, Peabody CEO Jim Grech announced that the company would increase production at the mine in 2026.
However, Australian coking coal producers are facing difficulties. The Queensland government, which oversees the country's largest coking coal mining region, lowered its coal export forecast for July 2025—June 2026 due to low steel production and prolonged mine shutdowns in December 2025.
The Australian Weather Forecaster reported that the Office of the Chief Economist also lowered its forecast for coking coal exports for 2025-27 due to the adjustment of production forecasts at the mine level on December 19, 2025.
Australian producers BHP and QCoal have closed coking coal mines in Queensland over royalties, pricing and costs in 2025. Other manufacturers may not make many new investments in the state. The largest manufacturers have announced a major strike, although most of them do not declare it publicly, investor Gordon Galt said in an interview with Argus in November 2025.
Australian producers exported 147 million tons of coking coal to Australia in 2025, which is 4.1% less than in 2024, probably due to mine shutdowns and weather conditions.
