Regional Coal: Banpu expands ops to Mongolia

Thai energy conglomerate Banpu PCL announced Wednesday that it has formed a strategic partnership with Hunnu Coal Limited, an Australia-listed company which has several pre-development coal projects in Mongolia.

Under the terms of the partnership Banpu will acquire 30 million shares in Hunnu through a private placement at AUD 1.50 per share for a total consideration of AUD 45 million, which will effectively provide Banpu a 12.39% interest of Hunnu?s issued share, making BMS the largest shareholder in Hunnu.

?The rationale of the acquisition is to initiate a low-risk way for Banpu to gain access into the highly potential Mongolian coal sector with extensive coal deposits, rapidly developing infrastructure, and close proximity to attractive export markets such as China.

Hunnu has established a strong position in thermal and coking coal deposits in South Gobi, Mongolia. It is undergoing an extensive exploration for its ten coal development projects, two of which have a combined more than 400 million tonnes of JORC Coal Resources,? the company said.

The funding will be used to further fast track the development strategies for the Tsant Uul and Unst Khudag Coal deposits, Hunnu said in a statement on Wednesday.

?Hunnu Coal is aiming to become Mongolia?s premier coal company and is focussed on high demand thermal and coking coals that are close to existing or planned infrastructure,? it added.

Banpu is an energetic Asian energy company managing coal mining and coal related businesses operating in four countries namely Thailand, Indonesia, China and Australia and has an annual coal production of 40 million tonnes per year. (alex)