The explorer is aiming for more than 20 million tonnes per annum of production from its wholly owned Springsure Creek, Arcturus and Arcadia projects, with all the tenements within 50 kilometres of each other.
Following on from a $76 million capital raising in December, Bandanna plans to bring in JV partners to acquire project interests and help fund development.
As part of its ongoing strategic review, Bandanna appointed UBS to assist any possible transaction processes, while law firm Freehills was appointed to take care of legal advice.
“Despite Bandanna’s capacity to raise the necessary funds, corporate transactions or whole-of-asset transactions should be considered where they deliver greater value than can be achieved by Bandanna funding and developing its projects,” the company said yesterday.
The Arcturus project holds 44.3Mt of marketable reserves with 26.9Mt suitable for underground mining.
The conceptual plan is to target up to six seams through open cut mining, leading to the development of punch longwall panels to access the reserves further underground.
Bandanna’s Dingo West open cut project might be small in scope but is adjacent to the Blackwater rail corridor and 250km from Gladstone’s port.
The company previously viewed Dingo West as a potential open cut satellite pit operation capable of producing 0.5-1Mtpa.
The project holds 91.1Mt of inferred resources and preliminary evaluation has revealed that Dingo West could produce a “very acceptable low ash, low volatile” pulverised coal injection coal.
Private company AMCI is set to earn up to half of the $1.5 billion South Galilee open cut and underground coal project from Bandanna by funding exploration and development to the tune of $25 million.
Bandanna has a 4Mtpa port allocation from the first-stage capacity of the proposed Wiggins Island Export Coal Terminal, due to start shipping in 2014.
Bandanna’s portfolio consists of 15 exploration permits for coal and seven permits for minerals exploration.
Shares in the company are up 2c to $1.50 this morning.
