MANAGEMENT

BCC cashed up for mining preparation at Bluff

BOWEN Coking Coal has bedded down $25 million in financing to restart operations at its newly-acquired Bluff coal mine in Queensland.

Off‐site work at the Bluff mine has already begun and mobilisation to site is expected before the end of the year.

Off‐site work at the Bluff mine has already begun and mobilisation to site is expected before the end of the year.

BCC has paid $5 million for the mine, plus potential price-linked royalty payments for coal sales above $120 per tonne.

Off‐site work has already begun and mobilisation to site is expected before the end of the year with first coal production from the Bluff Mine planned for Q1 2022.

The company has engaged CMC Group in association with Comiskey Mining Services as contractors to execute an operational readiness program and to prepare the Bluff Mine for coal production.

Bluff has a 13.5 million tonne JORC resource of ultra-low volatile pulverised coal injection coal and is expected to be mined at a rate of 1-1.2 million tonnes per annum run-of-mine over four to six years to supply the global steel industry.

BCC managing director Gerhard Redelinghuys said the acquisition and funding of Bluff were key milestones in the company's journey to becoming Australia's next metallurgical coal producer.

"We look forward to recommissioning and operating the mine in a safe and responsible way to deliver high quality ULVPCI coal to our customers in the steel industry," he said.

"Furthermore, we are delighted with the strong reception we received from the market for our inaugural debt facility and capital raising, which positions Bowen well as it transitions from coal explorer to multi- mine coking coal producer."

BCC said the financing also meant the company had enough cash to start mining at its nearby Broadmeadow East project, pending final environmental approval.

That approval is expected before the end of 2021.

Broadmeadow East forms the first planned pit of the expanded Burton complex and will initially be processed through the infrastructure sharing agreement with Fitzroy while refurbishment of the Burton coal handling and preparation plant is undertaken.

Discussions with end users have begun for the Bluff ULVPCI product following significant interest in recent weeks.

The marketing of the Bluff product coal will be performed by the company's 50:50 Marketing Joint Venture with M Resources, a specialist metallurgical coal trading company.

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.