Churchill, Leighton join hands to develop E. Kalimantan Coal Project
Monday, January 12 2009 - 05:40 PM WIB
Under the deal, Leighton will advise Churchill as it continues to develop engineering, procurement and construction solutions for both the Fast Track Operational Mining Study (Stage-1) and the Long Term Infrastructure and Mining Study (Stage-2) for the EKCP.
As part of the agreement Leighton will prepare and submit contractual, technical and financial proposals for Churchill to consider. In return, Leighton will be granted a preferred contracting party status for the provision of the Stage-1 and Stage-2 works and for the mining operation stage subject to the final proposals submitted by Leighton being deemed competitive by both Churchill's own team and Churchill's technical consulting group, Trans Tek Engineering.
Churchill has reserved the right to seek other proposals to determine competitive market rates and both groups will work towards a "Best for Project" outcome with regards to any future development. In the event that a contract is not entered into between Leighton and Churchill, Churchill will reimburse Leighton's costs to an agreed level.
Leighton is a part of Leighton International Limited, which in turn is a part of the Leighton Group - Australia's largest contracting and project development group.
In May 2007 Churchill announced a sales agreement had been entered into to purchase a 75% interest in the East Kutai Coal Project from PT Techno Coal Utama. Churchill has now extended the size of the project by 200 square kilometres by acquiring a 75% interest in the abutting tenements to the west of EKCP from the Investmine Group of Indonesia. Resource drilling continues along with detailed scoping and pre-feasibility work.
In 2008 the company released an updated JORC Resource Statement defining 1.4 billion tonnes of thermal coal reserves and resources.(alex)