Yankuang Group, the parent of Yanzhou Coal Mining Co Ltd, is still confident about its global strategy, despite plunging coal prices and the continuing global economic slowdown, state media cited a senior company executive as saying.

The company is meeting the challenges by "delivering higher volumes at lower costs", China Daily said Li Xiyong, general manager of the Yankuang Group.

Yankuang announced last week it has received approval from the local planning assessment commission for a $120 million expansion of its operations at the Moolarben coal mine in New South Wales, Australia.

The plan includes a new open-pit mine and two underground operations, which are expected to boost its annual output from 8 million tonnes a year to 13.1 million by 2016.

"Moolarben was a low-cost operation that it made sense to expand," Li said, adding that the Australian market has long been one of the most important parts of the company's "go-global" strategy.

During the past few years, the company has invested more than 44 billion yuan in expanding its business in Australia through a series of mergers and acquisitions and created Australia's largest listed coal company, Yancoal Australia Ltd, which is 78% owned by Yanzhou Coal.

In Australia alone, Yanzhou Coal now has nine operating mines and six exploration projects under way, which have total exploitable reserves of over 1.4 billion tonnes and potential reserves of 5.3 billion tonnes.

Although its business in Australia last year was hit by the depreciation of the local currency, Li said the company would continue with its expansion plans in the country.

Meanwhile, the company's investment in potash exploration and mining in Canada's Saskatchewan is expected to yield promising returns, due to the world's increasing potash demand, especially from China, Brazil, and India.

Yankuang reported an operating profit of 160 million yuan last year. Its combined coal output reached 84.2 million tonnenes, bringing in 105.6 billion yuan.