NuCoal managing director Glen Lewis said the acquisition was aimed at boosting NuCoal’s mineral resource base in the Upper Hunter and providing development, operational and financial synergies and flexibility for its Doyles Creek and Savoy Hill projects.
“The proposed acquisition of the Plashett coal assets, subject to shareholder approval, is another significant step in realising our stated corporate strategy of becoming a multi-mine coal company focused on developing high-quality coal assets in the NSW Upper Hunter region,” he said.
“We intend to commence exploration on the Plashett [exploration licence] as soon as we can.
“Based on the information we have at this time, we believe that a significant amount of the exploration target should be amenable to open cut mining and we will focus our initial efforts on the shallower open cut areas targeting strip ratios less than 10 cubic metres per tonne.
“We expect to be able to delineate both semi-soft and thermal quality coals within the Plashett EL.”
Drilling will focus initially on proving a JORC-standard open cut resource of up to 100Mt, according to NuCoal.
Under the proposed deal, Bloomfield MD John Richards will be invited to join the board of NuCoal as a non-executive director.
Richards is also a director of Port Waratah Coal Services.
“Folding Plashett EL 6705 into NuCoal makes strategic sense due to its close proximity to NuCoal’s existing coal assets and other surface infrastructure, such as the Bayswater power station and rail lines,” Richards said.
“NuCoal have the ability to make the Plashett asset part of an expanded coal complex and therefore the sharing of infrastructure makes the capital cost of any such development significantly more economic.
“BBH [Bloomfield subsidiary Big Ben Holdings] shares NuCoal management’s vision for developing high-quality coal assets in the Upper Hunter which is why we have accepted the entire payment structure based on NuCoal scrip and I look forward to joining the board.”