But look, we think the prospects for Newcastle thermal coal, and that’s the coal that we really put into the export market to improve as we move through the year. as we’ve still got inventories to be taken down in the Northern Hemisphere. So we’re optimistic about the rest of the year.
Karla Kimrey : Operator, do we have another question?
Operator: The next question is a follow-up from Lucas Pipes of B. Riley Securities.
Lucas Pipes: My first one is on Wilpinjong. I looked at the technical report some time ago, and it that’s last year’s technical report, I believe. And it showed kind of lower volume starting this year. I wondered if you could maybe comment on that, I guess, we’ll get an updated version with the 10-K. But if you could maybe comment on kind of mine of life of Wilpinjong and your outlook on production for this year and the coming years? And then I guess you have to kind of net that against what goes domestic versus export. So if you could comment on that and kind of the net contribution of Wilpinjong to your Seaborne thermal portfolio over time? We would really appreciate the color.
Jim Grech: Yes. Lucas, we’ll start. We’ll have Malcolm talk about the contracting of the domestic versus the export and some color on that to the extent that we can talk about that. And then we’ll follow up with your question about the reserves and the outlook. So Malcolm, if you could go first.
Malcolm Roberts : Yes. Look, we — as we move past 20 — 2027, 2028, the proportion of export coal, we expect to increase. However, there are some extension options and production options to increase based on that as well at Wilpinjong, which we can — we’ve got a very busy drilling program there at the moment.
Mark Spurbeck: Year-over-year, we’re probably looking at — it’s only about 300,000, 400,000 tons lighter in ’24 versus ’23 in — so — and as Malcolm says, I would say the export volumes are probably similar year-over-year as well. So pretty consistent performance there. And obviously, we already mentioned the better performance out of the Wambo time increasing the proportion of new gas.
Lucas Pipes: Got it. And should I think about kind of the higher output versus the prior plan as efficiency gains and unanticipated kind of optimization opportunities. How should I think about that?
Mark Spurbeck: Yes. I think it’s a combination of both of those things, Lucas. We continue to mine various looking forward, going out beyond ’24. Certainly, there’s studies. We talked about that earlier, that we are conducting. There’s several expansion opportunities, and we’ll continue to study those. And when we get further down the line, you’ll see an updated production profile in a technical report.
Jim Grech: Lucas, maybe also you’re talking about Wambo would come out of that longwall move at the end of last year and have the long haul running this year, too. I’m not sure what time frame you’re talking about with the tonnage profile.
Lucas Pipes: Yes, that was kind of Wilpinjong over the next — a couple of years —
Jim Grech: Wilpinjong. Okay, I’m sorry. Go ahead.
Lucas Pipes: No, very helpful. I appreciate that discussion. I guess some helpful context. Follow-up on Wards Well. I think earlier you mentioned $50 million of capital this year. I wondered if you could maybe expand on what you would envision to invest in with that capital? Is it machines? Is it infrastructure for the eventual extraction of those reserves, would appreciate your comments on that?
Mark Spurbeck: Yes. I think it’s a combination of both, Lucas. I mean there will be some — and certainly, we’ll begin driving an underground development towards those reserves, which is all capitalized. So that’s the preliminary estimate of $50 million for 2024.
Lucas Pipes: Okay. That’s helpful. And then on the domestic side, I wanted to kind of ask about your contract portfolio beyond this year. Can you frame up kind of where the book stands as a percentage of this year’s production for 2025? And ballpark, what sort of pricing direction should we anticipate?
Jim Grech: Yes. Lucas, for 2025, our domestic book right now, if we look at the PRB and we gauge it against the midpoint of the guidance this year, we’re better than 60% committed. And the other U.S. thermal same way if you look at the midpoint of guidance this year and you take that to 2025 or about 75% committed. And we have not yet issued any outlook on pricing for 2025.
Operator: This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Jim Grech for any closing remarks.
Jim Grech : Well, thank you all for joining us today. I’d especially like to thank our employees for remaining focused on safety and for continuing to execute on our various initiatives. I’d also like to thank our investors, customers and vendors for your continued support. Operator, that concludes our call.
Operator: The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today’s presentation, and you may now disconnect.
