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World Coal
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August 2015
Coal News
A
round-up of news from coal
projects around the world.
Australia
Hume Coal
Hume Coal has submitted plans to build
an underground coal mine in the
Southern Highlands of Australia. Details
of the plans will be submitted to the
New South Wales government as a first
step in the approval process. The aim is
to extract coal from the Wongawilli coal
seam in the Sutton Forest region. The
planned mine will remove 35% of coal
from the available reserves and leave the
rest underground in order to provide
long-term ground stability and reduce
impacts on groundwater.
Rio Tinto
Following the completion of exploration
work, Rio Tinto has decided not to go
forward with the Mt Hillalong project in
the northern Bowen Basin.
Adani Mining
The Abbott government’s approval of
Adani’s Carmichael mine in north
Queensland – the largest proposed coal
project in Australia – has been ruled
invalid by the Federal Court of Australia.
The court said that the environment
minister had failed to heed advice about
threats to vulnerable animal species when
he approved the project.
India
Central Coalfield Ltd
Central Coalfield Ltd (CCL) plans to
start new projects for coal mining in
Jharkhand, India.“We will start mining
of coal over a stretch of 34 000 acres of
land in Jharkhand and land
authentication process is on,” said
CCL’s Chairman‑cum‑Managing
Director, Gopal Singh.
Mongolia
Ekhgoviin Chuluu Joint Venture
The Ekhgoviin Chuluu Joint Venture
(ECJV) between Aspire Mining and the
Noble Group has been granted two new
exploration licenses, following the
re-opening of the Cadestre Division of
the Mineral Resource Authority of
Mongolia to accept new applications.
The new licenses will form the
Erdenbulag coal project with further
licence areas under application. The
licences are focused on the South Gobi
region of southern Mongolia in an area
that already hosts a number of
metallurgical coal mines and resources.
Mozambique
Coal India
Coal India (CIL) is to give up over 75% of
its Mozambique coal license areas,
according to a company filing with the
Bombay Stock Exchange. Of the 224 km
2
included in the original licenses, CIL is to
keep just 54 km
2
that “will be of actual
interest with coal bearing horizon
occurring with 55 m depth,” the company
said. The announcement follows an
Interim Geological Report prepared by
CMPDIL, a subsidiary of CIL.
Poland
Prairie Mining
July was a busy month for Prairie with
three major announcements. First came
the news that, following the approval of
Prairie Mining’s Geological
Documentation by the Polish government,
the company has secured the exclusive
right – valid for three years – to apply for
and consequently be granted a Mining
Concession for the Lublin coal project.
Prairie is working to complete the
Pre-Feasibility Study for the project during
2015. It will now begin work on the
Mining Concession application and
anticipates submitting the application to
the government in 2016.
The company also executed an
investment agreement of up to
AUS$83 million with CD Capital Natural
Resources to develop the project. The
transaction proceeds will fund all
required work programmes to enable the
company to make development
decisions and complete a definitive
feasibility study for the project.
Finally, Prairie announced a
substantial increase in the indicated coal
resources at the Lublin project to
333 million t – a 96% increase from the
coal resource estimate of 2014. The
project is located in southeast Poland in
the Lublin Coal Basin and adjacent to the
Bogdanka mine, which currently
produces about 9.2 million tpa.
Tanzania
Edenville Energy
Edenville has met with Shandong Electric
Power Construction No.2 Co. in Dar es
Salaam to discuss the development of the
Rukwa coal project. The company has
also started the formal review process of
the Rukwa power plant feasibility with
Tanzania’s Ministry of Energy and
Minerals (MEM) and Tanesco (the state
body for power generation, transmission
and distribution). The review evaluates
and assesses the proposed power
generation projects in order to meet
commercial and regulatory requirements.
INTERNATIONAL
Exploration and mine development news from around the world
