Pike River Coal Ltd said its first export shipment of 20,000 tonnes of premium hard coking coal is being shipped from the Lyttelton Port of Christchurch today.
The shipment on board the Tian Bai Feng is to Bedi Port in Gujarat in India and on to coke-maker, Gujarat NRE, a life-of-mine customer.
"This is a significant event for the company and the culmination of intensive efforts to bring the mine into production," said chief executive Gordon Ward.
Gujarat and fellow Indian life-of-mine customer, Saurashtra Fuels, have agreed to take 55 percent of Pike River's coal.
Pike River also has three-year supply contracts with Japanese steel mills. These contracts account for the supply of 22 percent of Pike's total coal production. The mine is on the West Coast north of Greymouth.
The next export shipment is scheduled for the April - June 2010 quarter.
