For the six months up-to December, Macarthur Coal Ltd. is now expecting its earnings to fall between $37 Million to $42 Million, and has shared that the company has managed to return to full production.

The miner, which is mainly responsible for producing coal for use in steel-making, revealed that its sales volume for the year 2009 hit 2.8 million tons, mainly on the back of a strong second quarter performance, favorable weather conditions and easing of congestion at the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal.

The sales figure has managed to beat the miner's previous estimate pegged at numbers between 2.4 and 2.7 million tons of coal.

"It is pleasing to see the strong recovery in sales and that we are now back to full production", said Chief Executive Nicole Hollows.

For the complete year, Macarthur is now expecting to post a sales figure of some 4.8 to 5 million tons.

All the figures were shared very recently on Friday, but the miner declined to provide any update on whether it was gaining any transaction with the acquisition offer Gloucester Coal Ltd, launched in late December.