Australian coal miners, Whitehaven Coal (ASX: WHC) and Aston Resources (ASX: AZT), are talking about a corporate merger, Whitehaven disclosed on Monday.

With their planned combination, the two companies would have a total output of 27 million tonnes a year by 2015, which would bring the two coal miners on par with the 2010 output of the Australian operations of Peabody Energy.

However, Whitehaven Managing Director Tony Haggarty said the discussions are only at its early stage and it is still unclear if the planned merger would be suitable to submit to Whitehaven shareholders for approval.

If the merger would push through, the combined value of the two coal miners is estimated at $4.7 billion.

Ahead of a buy-in, news of the merger talks caused Whitehaven shares to go up 2.3 per cent or by 13 cents to $5.77, while Aston stocks rose 6.6 per cent or 80 cents to $9.71 per share.

Whitehaven, which publicly listed in June 2007, is based in Queensland. It reported 1.862 MT coal sales in the September quarter, up by 17 per cent from the previous quarter. In the same quarter, it received an extension of the Rocglen and Werris Creek open-cut mines from the New South Wales government.

Aston, also based in Queensland, went public in August 2010. For the September quarter, the company reported that it agreed to the terms of the sale of 10 per cent of its stake in the Maules Creek Project for $370 million to J-Power Australia.

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