Bowen Coking Coal has railed its first coal from the Broadmeadow East mine through to Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal for export.

The 10,426-tonne load on that train has been sold under a spot arrangement and a further three trains carrying about 30,000 tonnes of Broadmeadow East coal are scheduled to be railed to DBCT in the coming week.

The company said initial sales were being completed on a train-by-train basis through Fitzroy’s Carborough Downs facilities while its own train load-out facility at the Burton Complex was being refurbished.

It is planning to ship a maiden Cape-size vessel load (140kt) of Broadmeadow East coal in late December in addition to those initial trainloads.

Broadmeadow East, near Moranbah, is the company’s second operating mine, following first production and sales from the Bluff mine near Blackwater midyear.

“Having two mines producing in different parts of the Bowen Basin and using alternative infrastructure spreads risk brought on by the unseasonal wet weather,” Bowen managing director and chief executive officer Gerhard Redelinghuys said.

“It also demonstrates the company’s technical ability by bringing two mines into production in one year, whilst simultaneously refurbishing the Burton Complex.

“I would like to thank the whole Bowen team, alongside our valued consultants, contractors and infrastructure partners, who all played an important role in turning Broadmeadow East from what was essentially a paddock in May this year into a revenue generating operation within just five months.

“It is a marvelous achievement for the company, demonstrating our ability to move quickly and overcome obstacles as we ramp up to our production target of five million tonnes Run-of-Mine coal per annum by 2024.”

Related: Bowen cracking along with Burton restart work

Coal production commenced at Broadmeadow East in July this year and is expected to ramp up to steady-state production of between 0.8Mtpa and 1.1Mtpa ROM in the next quarter.

It is the first pit to come online as part of the company’s greater Burton Complex.

In a quarterly update this month, the company said refurbishment of the site’s CHPP was well underway and it had given mining contractor BUMA formal notice to start mobilising equipment for the mining of the Burton pits from January 1, 2023.