(Reuters) - Diversified miner South32 Ltd on Thursday said it expects operating unit costs at its Illawarra operations to be sequentially higher in the second-half of fiscal 2019.
South32 expects operating unit costs of $107 per tonne in the six-months to end-June, up from $87 a tonne in the first half of 2019.
The rise in unit costs follows moves to longwall mining at its Appin and Dendrobium mines in the March quarter, the company said in a site visit presentation.
In January, the Perth-based company raised its fiscal 2019 production guidance from its Illawarra Metallurgical Coal Project by 7% to an expected 6.5 million tonnes.
The Illawarra project, located in the state of New South Wales, accounts for nearly all of the miner's coking coal output.
(Reporting by Niyati Shetty in Bengaluru; Editing by Michael Perry)
