Under the terms of the agreements, Electric Power Development (J-Power) and EDF Trading will pay Whitehaven $A125 million and $US120 million respectively for their 7.5% stakes in Narrabri.

Each will also contribute their share of all development costs from January 1, 2008.

J-Power is a major Japanese power producer and has over 25% of Japan’s coal-fired power generation capacity. The company imports about 20 million tonnes of thermal coal per annum.

EDFT is a 100% owned subsidiary of the EDF Group, one of Europe's largest utility companies.

EDFT is the exclusive supplier of coal to EDF in France and EDF Energy in the UK and has long-term supply contracts with other major European utilities.

“We are extremely pleased to add J-Power and EDFT as joint venture partners in the Narrabri Project with ourselves and Yudean,” Whitehaven managing director Rob Stewart said.

“Whitehaven has done these deals to increase and diversify our baseload with leading end users in China, Europe and Japan."

The J-Power transaction will be settled in two tranches. The first payment of $A41.67 million will occur on completion of the agreement, with the balance payable when Narrabri obtains government approval for Stage 2 of the project.

EDFT will pay Whitehaven $US120 million in instalments over the next four years.

Both agreements include a coal offtake contract for 1.5 million tonnes per annum over the life of the Narrabri North mine based on market prices.

The deal is expected to be completed this month.

Narrabri's mining lease for Stage 1 of the project was granted in January this year with construction commencing shortly thereafter.

The project is expected to start coal production in the second half of calendar 2009.

Whitehaven was trading up 7.44% mid-afternoon at $A4.19.