Australian miner, Aquila Resources, has said that its deadline has passed for agreement on the infrastructure plans for its Eagle Downs joint venture in Queensland with a subsidiary of Brazilian miner, Vale, Bowen Central Coal (BCC).
Aquila had given Vale until Friday to respond to the notice of default it issued last week after the two parties had a disagreement over how coal from the new mine would be transported.
Aquila wants the coal to be transported via the Abbot Point coal terminal, utilising the new rail link from the Bowen Basin coal field to Abbot Point. Vale's preference is to transport the coal via extended facilities at Dalrymple, however that would mean the project would not be able to ship coal until two years later than the projected 2013 start date if the project uses Abbot Point.
“As the relevant agreements were not executed and returned to the relevant counterparties by the deadline, capacity on the rail project and at the Abbot Point coal terminal has not been secured by the joint venture,” Aquila said in a statement.
“Aquila will continue to investigate the infrastructure opportunities available to the joint venture,” the company said.
“Whilst Aquila will continue to seek to resolve this matter with BCC, in the meantime it will pursue its rights under the joint venture agreement, in respect of the default notice it issued on BCC.”
No comments:
Post a Comment