ARCHIVE

Atlantic picks up Pott & Bannon option

UK MINER Atlantic Coal will exercise its lease option over the 410-acre Pott & Bannon anthracite property in eastern Pennsylvania for $US6 million in cash, coal and shares.

Donna Schmidt
Atlantic picks up Pott & Bannon option

The company said Monday it would receive the rights to the fully permitted property from Reading Anthracite, to which it would also give warrants over Atlantic Coal ordinary shares worth $3 million at 75c per share.

The property in New Castle township, Schuylkill County, has an estimated 13.6 million tons run-of-mine coal, or about 4.1Mt saleable.

The deal has helped the AIM-listed producer make good on its strategy to increase its reserve base and production profile in the Pennsylvania Anthracite Belt.

“The Pott & Bannon site, which the board estimates has the potential to more than treble Atlantic Coal’s existing reserves, is a potentially transformational addition to our Pennsylvanian portfolio and having minimized the cash portion payable as part of the transaction, we believe that this represents value for shareholders,” Atlantic Coal managing director Steve Best said.

He noted that Atlantic wants to pursue an early route to production and, as such, it is currently producing a mine plan and updated report of reserves so that it can commence operations over the next 12 months.

“We…envisage this to be a stand-alone project, benefitting from excellent local infrastructure and robust regional demand,” Best said.

“Additionally, with only 25 miles separating Pott & Bannon from our existing Stockton Colliery, where we recently reported record production, we believe that we will be able to take advantage of the potential synergies that exist with our current operations.’

The lease option is for a 10-year period from the date mining is permitted. After that, it will have the option to extend for two additional five-year periods.

Atlantic continued to advance its due diligence process over additional anthracite assets in Pennsylvania.

TOPICS:

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Future Fleets Report 2024

The report paints a picture of the equipment landscape and includes detailed profiles of mines that are employing these fleets

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Digitalisation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations that use digitalisation technology to drive improvements across all areas of mining production

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Automation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations using autonomous solutions in every region and sector, including analysis of the factors driving investment decisions

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Exploration Report 2023 (feat. Opaxe data)

A comprehensive review of current exploration rates, trending exploration technologies, a ranking of top drill intercepts and a catalogue of 2022 Initial Resource Estimates and recent discovery successes.