JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Acacia Coal has lodged an application to have the key project licences of the Riversdale anthracite colliery (RAC) project, in KwaZulu-Natal, transferred to it from project vendor Rio Tinto.

The application, under Section 11 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, had been submitted to the relevant authorities this week and marked an important milestone in the eventual development of the project.

Acacia also has an exclusive option, in partnership with African Onca, to acquire the mining right for the RAC project from a subsidiary of Rio Tinto and its partner Khulani Resources.

“Since securing the exclusive right to purchase the RAC project, Acacia has maintained an aggressive schedule to derisk the project and move it towards production, delivering an updated resource and reserve estimate in April and a positive prefeasibility study (PFS) in May, two months ahead of schedule,” said Acacia MD Hugh Callaghan in an update to shareholders on Friday.

The PFS estimates the project will require a capital investment of A$24-million, providing the company with a low capital cost project development opportunity with strong economic returns and a clear pathway to near-term production.

It is expected the project will produce 438 000 t/y of low-impurity anthracite coal and will generate free operating cash flow of A$14.5-million over an eight-year mine life.

Acacia is planning a feasibility study for the second half of 2017 – and due for completion early next year – which will “pave the way” for a final investment decision.

“We have a significantly derisked a project which enjoys very strong economics and which is now moving rapidly towards production and, importantly, we have a world-class management team in place with the record and capability to deliver,” Callaghan concluded.