Bisichi in the black as coal production up

South Africa-focused coal miner Bisichi Mining jumped back into profit in the first half, driven by a third opencast at its Black Wattle Colliery.

Revenues grew to £16.5m, from £13.2m the year before, with profits coming in at £1.1m.

This compared with a loss of £1.8m in the first six months of 2011.

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Earnings per share were 10.9p, up from a loss per share of 11.5p the previous year.

The turnaround at the Black Wattle Colliery was largely attributable to the opening of a third opencast pit early in the second half of last year and the selling of Bisichi's coal into new, lower quality, markets.

This allowed the firm to mine coal that would otherwise be unsuitable for supply to its traditional, higher quality market.

As a result of the opening of the new pit, the mines' monthly production for the first six months of 2012 increased to an average of 150,000 metric tonnes.

This compared with the average monthly production of 110,000 metric tonnes achieved in the same period last year and 135,000 metric tonnes achieved in the second half of 2011.

Chairman Michael Heller said he saw the strong demand for his firm's coal which continuing for the rest of the year.