PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Coal hopeful Prairie Downs Metals has reported that its Lublin project, in Poland, could support a production of up to 8.8-million tonnes a year run-of-mine coal, to deliver 6.7-million tonnes a year of saleable coal, over a mine life of 22 years.

A scoping study estimated that the project, which hosts a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource of 1.6-billion tonnes, could deliver earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of up to $391-million a year.

The average operating costs have been estimated at $37/t, placing Lublin on the lowest position on the global cost curve for coal deliveries into Europe.

“Results from the scoping study show the potential to develop a world-scale, multi-generational coal mine with strong cash flows and with operating costs on the lowest position in the global cost curve for coal delivered into Europe,” said Prairie CEO Ben Stoikovich.

He pointed out that the Lublin project had access to well-established regional rail and port infrastructure, with underused bulk cargo capacity for low transportation costs within Poland. Coal would be shipped to regional European markets by rail, while seaborne export would be undertaken through underused ports in the north of the country.

“We are in the enviable position of having a highly advanced project with very strong fundamentals, located in a proven world-class coal basin. The Lublin coal project has the potential to become a significant new coal producer within the industrial heartland of Europe, and offer a strategic supply of high-quality semi-soft coking and premium thermal coal regionally within Poland and to nearby European markets,” Stoikovich said.

With the scoping study complete, the company will now begin a prefeasibility study (PFS) on the Lublin coal project in the coming weeks. The PFS would likely be completed by the first half of 2015.