The Nova Scotia Ministry for Natural Resources awarded Swiss-miner Xstrata and its Canadian and US partners the application rights to the thermal and metallurgical coal resource located off Cape Breton Island in the Sydney coal field.
The Donkin Alliance is owned by Xstrata Coal (66%), Kaoclay Resources (20%) and Atlantic Green Energy Development (14%).
Xstrata Coal chief executive Peter Coates said the Donkin resource had strong potential for development.
Xstrata said work on the project would begin early in 2006 with the evaluation of the resource and the development of feasibility studies expected to take about two years to complete.
