The Rio Tinto subsidiary aimed to sell the relatively low quality 1.3 billion tonne deposit for up to $800 million by the end of this month, but it might seek other options.

The Australian Financial Review reported that the company might consider developing the project into an export operation as offers were not high enough, but did not mention any sources for this information.

In late March a company spokesperson told ILN a “satisfactory sales process” for the Oaklands deposit had not yet been completed.

In June last year, Coal & Allied informed the market that it was in the process of assessing the potential sale of the Oaklands deposit and that it had engaged corporate advisers to assist.

The deposit is strategically located near the NSW-Victorian powerlines and could be used for domestic power generation if it is developed into a 12 million tonne per annum operation.