PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Coal developer GVK Hancock Coal has been granted an environmental authority for its proposed A$10-billion Alpha coal project, in central Queensland, bringing the project one step closer to construction.
“This is one of the most significant milestones in the development of our Galilee basin coal projects to date, which will create one of the most significant pieces of regional and economic developments Queensland has seen for decades,” the company said in a statement.
The proposed Alpha project has a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource of 1.8-billion tonnes with some 1.2-billion tonnes of reserves. The opencut operation was expected to produce about 32-million tonnes a year, over a 30-year mine life.
GVK Hancock said that with the award of the environmental authority, the company’s key focus would be on advancing the project to a point where construction could start.
“Once we finalise the infrastructure joint venture with Aurizon and the regulatory bodies have addressed litigious challenges to approvals, we will execute coal offtake agreements before finalising all financing arrangements,” the company said.