A June 2023 quarterly announcement by Whitehaven Coal has revealed that the company has failed to renew its rotating debt facility.
The company said it had sourced contingent credit support facilities covering guarantees for environmental bonding, rehabilitation, and port, rail and other financial guarantees.
However, the previously held $1 billion undrawn finance facility has not been renewed. NAB and Westpac, as part of a syndicate of 12 banks, loaned Whitehaven $1 billion in 2020, but the loan facility with these banks has now ended.
Whitehaven will retain cash on balance sheet for operating the business, including for working capital purposes.
After returning $1.6 billion of capital to shareholders in the 2023 financial year through dividends and the share buy-back, as at 30 June 2023, Whitehaven held a net cash position of $2.65 billion.
Move Beyond Coal has campaigned in more than 60 locations across the country to stop NAB and other Australian and international banks from renewing their loan to Whitehaven Coal since September last year.
“NAB and other Whitehaven Coal investors’ decision to cease financing this debt facility for Australia’s largest undiversified coal company shows investors see financing new thermal coal as too risky,” the organisation said.
In its quarterly update, Whitehaven also said its Narrabri and Maules Creek mines are both covered by the Safeguard Mechanism, and subject to the reformed scheme’s requirements which commenced on 1 July 2023.
The reforms require facilities’ Scope 1 emissions intensity to be reduced by 4.9 per cent each year to 2030, in line with Australia’s climate target.
“The financial impact of the scheme on Whitehaven will be a function of the existence of and adoption of available abatement technologies, the cost of carbon offsets, any scheme design changes arising from the Government’s scheduled 2026/27 review and the emissions intensity profiles of Maules Creek and Narrabri,” the miner said.
“We are continuing to assess site-based abatement opportunities, and undertake investigative projects to evaluate the technical and financial viability of fugitive emissions abatement options at Narrabri.
“Where viable technologies are not able to achieve our carbon reduction obligations, carbon offsets will be required.
“Early modelling of potential costs in FY24 indicate an impact on Whitehaven’s overall unit costs in the order of $1/t, which will be factored into cost guidance that we will provide on 24 August at the time we release our FY23 full year results.”
