BBM definitive feasibility study confirms viability: Cokal
Thursday, February 13 2014 - 03:03 AM WIB
ASX-listed Cokal Limited announced Thursday the completion of a definitive feasibility study for its 60 percent owned Bumi Barito Mineral Coal Project (BBM), located in Central Kalimantan.
The study has been prepared by Resindo Resources & Energy Indonesia, an Indonesian company.
The study has confirmed that the BBM mine and associated facilities and transport systems can be developed as a low capital cost operation with moderate to mid-range operating costs. The formal risk analysis identified no issues which could not be managed by reasonable controls that would prevent the effective construction and operations of the mine, supporting facilities and transport chain for exporting the coal, Cokal said.
?The Study confirms that BBM is an economically and technically robust project?, said Chairman and CEO Peter Lynch.
?We are now focused on obtaining our final forestry approval which will enable construction to commence. The approval has been progressing well, and all necessary sign-offs have been obtained and it is now before the Ministry for final approval. We are expecting approval shortly and are now in discussions with a number of parties in relation to the project financing,? he added.
The highlights of the study are as follows.
? The Study has confirmed that the BBM coal mine and associated transport system can be developed as a low capital cost operation with moderate to medium range operating cost
? The Study approached the development as a 2 Million tons per annum (Mtpa) open cut mining operation.
? The marketing study has identified that BBM?s relatively low ash, low volatile, low sulphur, low phosphorus coking coal would command a high value as a blending feed in the premium coking coal market.
? No risks were identified that would prevent the construction and operation of the mine, supporting facilities and transport chain.
Cokal has previously said that construction will commence in April 2014 and to be completed in December 2014, with first production from BBM scheduled for first quarter of 2015.
BBM?s Production IUP covers an area of 14,980 hectares (ha), immediately adjacent to BHP Billiton?s Juloi tenement. The IUP straddles the Barito River and has numerous outcrops of bright coal. Coal core samples analysis confirmed BBM?s coal to be a premium coking coal with Crucible Swell Numbers (CSN) values generally 9 or more.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak