MANAGEMENT

QCoal to buy Bounty

THE receivers and managers of Bounty Mining, PriceWaterhouseCoopers have accepted an offer from Constellation Mining, an entity wholly owned by QCoal, to buy the business for an undisclosed sum.

QCoal will buy all Bounty's assets including the Cook colliery in Queensland.

QCoal will buy all Bounty's assets including the Cook colliery in Queensland.

The sale includes and assets of Bounty and its subsidiaries and the Cook colliery in Queensland.

"Subject to obtaining the necessary approvals for transfer of assets, the transaction is expected to be completed by May 2020," PwC said.

QCoal is a privately owned, independent Queensland coal producer.

Bounty Mining went into both voluntary administration and receivership on December 17 after benefits of proposed place change mining at its Cook colliery in Queensland could not come soon enough.

"All parties registering an interest will be required to sign a confidentiality agreement in order to participate in the process," PwC said in a statement.

"Bounty is an underground coking and thermal coal mine operator and developer, with a portfolio of production, development and exploration assets located in and around the Bowen and Laura Basins in Queensland."

Bounty's primary lender QCoal Bounty Holdings appointed Ben Campbell and Chris Hill of PwC as receivers and managers in December.

In recent months the company started to pin its hopes on the adoption of the place change mining method, which it put into practise in November.

However, the path to that place change effort was a difficult one, with one of the company's continuous miners getting buried in rock falls in October.

Those rock falls cost the company 23,000 tonnes of production.

On December 4 the company needed $10 million to cover the lost revenue caused by the October rock falls; $15 million in working capital to cover unforeseen events and cover ongoing operating loss; and $10 million for the work needed to establish place change panel three.

Bounty also had a first repayment commitment of $20 million due in July.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Future Fleets Report 2024

The report paints a picture of the equipment landscape and includes detailed profiles of mines that are employing these fleets

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Digitalisation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations that use digitalisation technology to drive improvements across all areas of mining production

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Automation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations using autonomous solutions in every region and sector, including analysis of the factors driving investment decisions

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Exploration Report 2023 (feat. Opaxe data)

A comprehensive review of current exploration rates, trending exploration technologies, a ranking of top drill intercepts and a catalogue of 2022 Initial Resource Estimates and recent discovery successes.