Managers acting on behalf of global creditor Vitol Asia will soon suspend underground mining at the 2.4mn t/yr Dartbrook mine, after taking control of the site from producer Australian Pacific Coal (APC) in July.

The decision follows an operations review of the mine, a spokesperson for consulting firm FTI Consulting told Argus on 3 October. Operations at Dartbrook's coal handling and preparation plant remain unaffected, they added.

New South Wales mining firm APC opened Dartbrook in late-2024, after a years-long pause. It shipped its first load of unwashed coal from the mine in December 2024. UK-South African producer Anglo American placed the Dartbrook mine into care and maintenance in 2006, before APC bought the mine in 2015 and reopened it in 2024.

Returning Dartbrook into care and maintenance should take about one month.

FTI Consulting has been managing Dartbrook since early July, when APC entered events of default on secured lending facilities opened by Vitol Asia.

Vitol Asia's appointees took control of all shares in AQC Dartbrook — the APC subsidiary that ran the mine — as well as all property belonging to it, and money in some of APC's reserve accounts, the company said on 4 July.

APC was suspended from quotation on the Australian Stock Exchange on 1 October, after failing to submit full year results for the 2024-25 financial year to 30 June over issues relating to Dartbrook's financial records.

The company is not the only Australian coal producer facing financial challenges. Mixed thermal and coking coal producer Bowen Coking Coal entered voluntary administration on 30 July, after the producer failed to secure financing and a royalty deferral.

Argus' Australian NAR 6,000 kcal/kg fob Newcastle price has also been falling over recent months. It was last assessed at $103.36/t on 2 October, down from $106.37/t three months earlier, on 3 July.