OREANDA-NEWS. ОАО Raspadskaya (MICEX-RTS: RASP) ("Raspadskaya" or "the Company") announces its preliminary operating results for Q3 of 2015:

In Q3 2015, management noted the improvement in market conditions, and therefore it was decided to increase production of raw coal. Overall raw coal production increased by 20% qoq and amounted to 2.7 million tonnes. The Company managed to increase its production at Razrez Raspadsky open-pit swiftly. In addition, the longwall move was completed at Raspadskaya underground mine.

Domestic sales of coking coal concentrate decreased by 20% in Q3 2015 qoq due to the restoration of the normal sales structure. In Q2 2015 there was a one-off redirection of the coking coal sales volumes to the EVRAZ enterprises in response to the weakening market conditions on the export routes.

Exports of coking coal concentrate reached 991 thousand tonnes or 58% of total coking coal concentrate sales vs 713 thousand tonnes or 44% in the Q2 2015. The growth was due to the improvement of the market conditions on the export routes in the reporting period.

Raw coal sales volumes increased by 127% in Q3 2015 qoq and amounted to 487 thousand tonnes. The growth was due to the higher domestic shippments of the GZh grade coking coal to the EVRAZ enterprises and other clients. GZhO and KO grade coking coal shippments decreased due to the lower production volumes of such coal in the reporting period.

In the August the carbon monoxide was detected at the Raspadskaya Koksovaya mine. Mining operations were stopped at field No1 of the mine due to the strict safety principles. The remaining reserves in the stopped longwall are 0.2 million tonnes of coking coal. The field No2 of Raspadskaya Koksovaya mine was not affected by the incident and continue its production of K grade coking coal.

The weighted average selling price of coking coal concentrate decreased by 13% in Q3 2015 qoq in Rouble terms mostly due to the change in the sales mix, namely the lower KO grade concentrate sales volume. No decrease in the domestic prices was noted in the reporting period. Weighted average selling prices of coal concentrate increased in Q3 2015 qoq in Rouble terms on the export markets due to the Rouble devaluation.