Bowen Coking Coal on a roll with CQ assets

Bowen Coking Coal is powering ahead at its Burton complex, where first coal is scheduled to be washed at the newly refurbished coal handling and preparation plant later this month. All major refurbishment work on the first of two modules at the plant was completed this month, with commissioning underway. The Burton complex includes the Burton and Lenton pits and the Broadmeadow East pit, which the company brought into production last year. In an update today, Bowen Coking Coal stated that Broadmeadow Esat was achieving steady state production and had shipped 82,000 tonnes of coal as at mid-March. Chief executive officer and managing director Gerhard Redelinghuys said the near-term goals for Bowen Coking Coal would be to complete the Burton refurbishment, open the Ellensfield South pit at Burton, and finalise its Isaac River permits whilst continuing to meet its production targets. Focus on Isaac River coal development The company is advancing its Isaac River project, with federal environmental approval under the EPBC Act expected to be granted in the first half of this year. This is the only outstanding item required for the mining licence, with the project already holding a site-specific Environmental Authority (EA) from the Queensland Government and an approved Progressive Rehabilitation and Closure Plan. Isaac River mine layout. "Landholder negotiations have recommenced to support a mining licence application once the EPBC approval is obtained, which is expected in the coming months," the company stated in its half-yearly report released today. "Similar to Broadmeadow East and Bluff, the project aims to use third party processing and infrastructure facilities to fast- track the development of the project." Documents submitted for the EPBC Act approvals process flag an operation mining about 500,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of metallurgical coal for the export market. Bowen Coking Coal plans to build a haul road to connect the Isaac River site to the Red Mountain coal handling and preparation plant and Red Mountain train loadout facility. The open-pit mine, about 28km south-east of Moranbah, is expected to operate for about five years. An impressive six months for Bowen Coking Coal Mr Redelinghuys said the last six months of 2022 had seen the completion of many major milestones for Bowen Coking Coal as it consolidated its position as one of Queensland’s new independent metallurgical coal producers. "We completed the transformational acquisition of the Burton mine and Lenton project early in the financial year and continued the refurbishment process, which commenced under an early works arrangement in the previous period," he said. "A successful $85 million capital raising, and strong coal prices support the rapid development of infrastructure at all locations. "The Bluff PCI Mine continued its ramp-up to a targeted steady state of production of 80Kt to 100Kt ROM coal per month. First Broadmeadow East coal was mined early in the period, with first sales materialising on a train-by-train basis in October 2022. "First coal was railed through the Lenton Joint Venture’s refurbished Mallawa train loadout late in the year to aggregate product for the maiden capesize vessel exported out of the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal near Mackay early in 2023. "The company has worked tirelessly throughout this period to accomplish these significant milestones." Mr Redelinghuys said coal prices remained strong despite disruptions from the impact of global inflationary pressures, supply chain disruptions and government royalties. "Long-term demand will be aided by rising steel output and the industrialisation of South-East Asia, and India, so it is expected that the supply will remain tight going forwards." Below: Bowen Coking Coal's Burton complex.

Bowen Coking Coal on a roll with CQ assets

Industry Queensland

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