Altura acquires shares in Delta Ultima Coal
Thursday, February 28 2013 - 03:53 AM WIB
ASX-listed Altura Mining Limited has shifted business from explorer to coal producer by acquiring a one third equity stake East Kalimantan coal mine PT Delta Ultima Coal, the owner and operator of the PT Binamitra Sumberarta mining tenement.
The acquisition cost of US$25 million comprises an initial payment of US$12.5 million with the balance payable in equal instalments over the next 3 years.
"The transaction provides a direct equity interest in PT Delta Ultima Coal (Delta Coal), the owner and operator of the PT Binamitra Sumberarta mining tenement," the company said in the statement.
The Delta Coal operation produces and sells a medium energy thermal coal currently at a rate of 1.5 million tons per annum (mtpa).
Plans are in place to lift production and sales to 2.0 million tonnes per annum by 2015.
The mine has two (2) defined resource areas with Gunung Lampu located in the east of the tenement and the Noni area located in the west. Both are serviced by a network of roads to the centrally located processing plant.
The mine is situated on a 1,260 hectare Izin Usaha Pertambangan (IUP) or Mining Permit in the Mahakam River delta in close proximity to the nearby major centres of Balikpapan and Samarinda.
Coal is mined via open pit methods, crushed on site, loaded on barges at the nearby company owned loading facility located on a river in the Mahakam delta, and then barged to the offshore loading point of Muara Jawa.
Editing by Adianto P. Simamora