Guests at the Bowen Basin Mining Club’s annual Rockhampton luncheon on Thursday 17 September heard from Zonika Ramsey, Deputy Chief Financial Officer at Whitehaven Coal. Zonika joined Whitehaven in February 2026 after more than 20 years in global mining and metals, including senior roles with Rio Tinto across Australia, North America, Europe and Asia, and most recently as CFO of the Iron Ore Company of Canada.
She spoke to a room full of mining supply chain businesses about how to work with Whitehaven, how quickly the finance sector is changing its position on coal, where Whitehaven sees demand heading, and what the company is doing to manage costs and keep Blackwater and Daunia running for decades to come.
Working with Whitehaven
In FY26, Whitehaven spent more than $1.5 billion in Queensland regional communities surrounding our Blackwater and Daunia mines. Zonika encouraged businesses in the room to register through the company’s supplier portal (link below) and introduced General Manager of Procurement, Dean Lawrence, who attended to meet suppliers in person. Whitehaven is also undertaking a regional capability mapping exercise so it can better match its requirements to what is already available locally.
“What we are looking for is suppliers who come to us with new ideas. People who can help us do things smarter, better, cheaper. People who can take risk out of our business and improve our safety performance by doing things differently and who are willing to work with us to do that,” Zonika said.
The finance sector is swinging back to coal
Zonika was in Rio Tinto’s Singapore treasury team in 2020, when ESG sentiment was at its peak and only certain banks would take a meeting. She recalled speaking to bankers and insurance companies back then who were progressively exiting coal. 2026, however, presents a very different story, with strong support for Whitehaven’s debt refinancing earlier this year clearly demonstrating how far the pendulum has swung.
Asian and US markets are the most supportive, while some Australian lenders are also returning. European lenders, she said, are not there yet, though there are early signs of change. Insurers are coming back, particularly to producers with a mix of metallurgical and thermal coal.
Steady demand and a tightening supply picture
Whitehaven is confident in long-term demand for both metallurgical and thermal coal, growing steadily rather than sharply as living standards rise across India and Southeast Asia. “The reality is that steelmaking still relies very heavily on met coal. There is nothing commercially viable yet that can replace it. It may come, but it will take time,” Zonika said.
On the supply side, she expects fewer new mines to be developed and depleted reserves not to be fully replaced. Conflict in the Middle East has also sharpened attention on energy security and the role of thermal coal as reliable baseload power.
Blackwater North and Winchester South
Putting that confidence into action, Whitehaven has lodged a revised Blackwater North extension proposal, which would extend the mine to approximately 2055. The proposal maintains Blackwater’s current extraction rate and makes good use of existing infrastructure.
Winchester South, adjacent to Daunia, remains a significant growth opportunity, and Whitehaven is already exploring synergies between the two. Operations are still several years away while the project works through the Land Court.
Cost discipline and an ownership mindset
Whitehaven’s FY26 results saw unit costs come down to $132 per tonne, a $7 per tonne improvement achieved against a challenging inflationary environment and higher diesel prices. Zonika said that came from more than 100 separate initiatives with almost the whole workforce involved, rather than one headline program.
“The key focus was putting accountability and responsibility with the people who are actually doing the work and spending the money. Let’s treat the money as our own.”
At Blackwater this has included smaller-scale projects such as optimising blasting consumables and rethinking maintenance scheduling. And where a major service once meant replacing everything the manual specified, crews now check whether a part has actually worn as much as it should have, or whether it can safely last longer.
For the next six months the focus is on equipment reliability and utilisation, mine plan optimisation, and daily cost tracking. Zonika reminded the audience of finance fundamentals: “Every single day, know what money you spend, know who you’re spending it with, know why you’re spending it.”
Royalties in real dollars
Zonika compared Queensland’s current royalty regime with both the previous Queensland structure and New South Wales settings across a range of coal prices, putting the difference in dollars rather than percentages. “We are a company that is keen to invest, because the growth prospects here are amazing, but under the current royalty regime it is hard to make the case to our board and our shareholders,” she said.
Building local workforces and communities
While the company’s Queensland sites have different demographics and talent pools to its predominantly residential New South Wales workforce, attracting local talent is a strong priority, with significant investment in traineeships and graduate programs.
In FY26 Whitehaven contributed almost $2 million in community funding across its operational footprint, and in Central Queensland supported 86 community, school and sporting organisations from aeromedical rescue services to the Rockhampton BMX Club. Applications are open now for Whitehaven’s latest Community Grants round, closing 30 September.
The final Bowen Basin Mining Club event for 2026 will be held in Mackay on 19 November. Tickets are now available through www.bbminingclub.com.
Companies wanting to supply to Whitehaven Coal can register their company details and capability through the supplier portal. Community, school and sporting organisations can apply to the current community grants round.