Australian coal miner Aquila Resources hopes to produce hard coking coal in 2013 from its Washpool project in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.
A feasibility study for the mine has just been completed and the miner is hoping production costs will be an at port price of around A$106 a tonne, although this price excludes royalty payments.
“The feasibility study confirms the status of the Washpool hard coking coal project area as a major coking coal resource and provides confirmation that this resource is economically recoverable with opencut mining methods,” said Aquila executive chairman Tony Poli.
Aquila said it would require A$320m of capital investment in the project with construction commencing in 2012. Washpool would be able to produce 1.6m tonnes of high-quality hard coking coal for a period of 25 years. Expected future cash flows from the mine over its expected life span would be $364m a tonne with an internal rate of return of 30 per cent.
Coal from the project will be exported via the Wiggins Island coal terminal at the port of Gladstone, Queensland.
The Washpool product would be hard coking coal with very strong coking coal properties and a higher-than-specification ash content.
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