Officials said Highland Park exercised its option to purchase 12,724,669 ordinary shares at A70c (US74c) per share via affiliate Borrowdale Park.

Highland Park now owns 153,840,202 shares, or about 24.3% of Coalspur.

The option exercise comes just weeks after the late December announcement of EIG Global Energy Partners’ commitment to provide Coalspur with a $US300 million senior debt facility.

“We are extremely pleased to have Highland Park increase their holdings in Coalspur, as it demonstrates their continued support of the company and management as we move towards construction of the Vista coal project,” president and chief executive officer Gill Winckler said.

Coalspur will now issue another 602,666 shares for options transferred to other parties by Borrowdale Park. The company said they had been exercised by the transferees.

It will also issue shares in respect of the options, which also had a price of A70c/share, at the completion of registration.

Coalspur estimated total net proceeds from the exercise of the options to be $9.4 million.

On the Vista front, last month Coalspur said it was advancing the detailed engineering studies for the project, the definitive transport agreement with railroader CN, the requirements for the regulatory approval process and other activities that would allow it to start construction in 2013.

On December 14, Coalspur entered into a binding agreement with CN that outlined the key terms for a definitive rail transport agreement.

The agreement will have a seven-year term starting in 2013.

CN will supply the equipment to move coal from Vista to tidewater and there will be no take or pay exposure for Coalspur.

The haulage rates and price escalation agreed with CN are down significantly on rates quoted in the Vista feasibility study.

As a result of the CN agreement, Coalspur’s logistics costs, which include port handling charges at Ridley Terminals, and haulage rates with CN are contractually defined until 2020.

Logistics make up about 50% of Coalspur’s projected free-on-board costs.

The logistics costs for Vista average $C30.81 ($US31) per tonne over the first five years of production and $31.40 per tonne at full production of 12 million tonnes per annum.

The costs are $1.88/t and $2.29/t lower than estimated in the feasibility study.

It means the finalized terms with CN reduce Vista’s projected total FOB operating costs to $56.98/t in the first five years, $59.55/t in the first 10 years and $66.40/t over the life of the mine.

Detailed engineering studies for the project are ongoing.

The company is preparing for civil earthworks and mine predevelopment work to start in the second quarter of 2013.

Initial bid packages for the load-out area, rail siding grading and drainage, access roads, plant site grading, surface water management and haul roads have been issued to prequalified contractors.

Firm bids for those works are expected in 2013.

Selection of process equipment including crushing, wash plant and load-out facilities to handle up to 3Mtpa is substantially complete.

Letters of intent or purchase orders have been issued to the selected vendors to receive engineering drawings for the detailed design of the process plant.

It will allow the plant structural and foundational design to be completed in early 2013.

A decision over the use of a mining contractor for the initial years of operation will be made in early 2013 as final bid submissions from contractors are received and the Vista funding is finalized.

The company remains on track with its regulatory approval process.

It is working with the town of Hinton as well as aboriginal groups.

Meanwhile, an agreement with one of the main groups setting out the terms of ongoing cooperation and collaboration between the parties has been reached.