There have been no changes to the previously announced plans, with Bounty and the other Wongai JV partners, Aust-Pac Capital and the Kalpowar traditional landowners, renewing efforts to launch a capital raising.

Under the JV arrangements, Bounty will earn a 40% stake by taking the project up to the environmental impact statement stage, plus the right to acquire an additional 11% before construction starts.

The project’s feasibility study is expected to take 18 months.

The Wongai project has an inferred resource of 67.5 million tonnes.

Bounty, which the appointed mine manager, aims to produce about 1.5 million tonnes per annum of high-quality coking coal through carefully considered underground place change methods.

The coal is expected to be processed onsite and trucked 18km to a northern barge loader, before it is loaded to larger vessels offshore.

“There will be no need for major coal port infrastructure or major dredging of channels as existing facilities are amenable to barging and low impact transhipment,” Bounty has previously said.

Bounty is also planning an initial drilling campaign to assist a scoping study to identify sites for portals, truck haulage and the barge loader.

The project is in the Laura Basin, about 150km north of Cairns.

The Queensland government gave it significant project status last year.

It has a potential mine life of at least 30 years and could provide up to 250 construction jobs.

An ongoing Wilderness Society campaign is targeting the Wongai project.