Clients have temporarily closed mines or terminated contracts to satisfy their short term needs impacting on Bounty’s contracting revenues, he said.

“During the year Bounty has continued to achieve key milestones and to further de-risk the [Wongai] project by ongoing development work and regular meetings with traditional owners, State and Federal Governments, investors and project service providers,” he said.

The coal market remains depressed and there were no contract opportunities during the year despite some early indications of improvement in October 2014, Cochrane said.

“Following expiry of the mining contract at Aquila in July 2013 Bounty’s equipment remains on care and maintenance pending a recovery of economic conditions and finding new revenue opportunities,” he said.

“Bounty has selectively sold some equipment to assist in funding the Wongai development and to support cash flow commitments.

“There is not expected to be any immediate improvement in contract mining opportunities until at the end of financial year 2016.

“Bounty will continue to monitor whether it is advantageous to sell more equipment during this extended down turn in contracting activity.”