Bathurst Resources is sticking to its timetable of extracting coal at a proposed mine near Westport by April next year but admits that opposition may derail its plans.
The Perth-based listed firm bought mining operations in Buller, including the existing Cascade mine which shipped its first exports last month.
Bathurst chief executive Hamish Bohannan says the company aims to double production from the mine to about 100,000 tonnes, and, with underground mining at its Brookdale site, it intends to produce a total of 250,000 tonnes a year by October next year.
He says the current production rate is about 70,000 to 75,000 tonnes per annum.
Bathurst's goal of developing the Escarpment coal mine project in Buller is facing snags, with three appeals against a decision by independent commissioners to approve the plan in August.
The miner's share price has tumbled from $1.74 in April to a low of 74 cents, which Mr Bohannan puts down to general market turmoil, as well as the appeals.
The company expects to start developing Escarpment from April, and producing coal by the middle of the year.
Mr Bohannan says that's still the target, and he's hopeful of a successful outcome from mediation with the West Coast Environment Network, the Fairdown Residents Association and Forest and Bird.
He says there is a parallel court process which will take up to nine months from when hearings start. The start date is not yet known.
The proposed opencast mine is on a 200 hectare mining permit in the southern part of the Denniston Plateau, and is expected to produce about 1 million tonnes of premium hard coking coal a year.
