JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Global miner Anglo American has completed the sale of its 88.17% interest in the Drayton thermal coal mine and Drayton South project to unlisted Malabar Coal.
The assets are located in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia, and have been sold to Malabar for an undisclosed amount, Anglo American said on Monday.
The Drayton South project has been the subject of a heated battled between Anglo American and horse stud owners. The miner ceased operations at Drayton in 2016, after the New South Wales Planning and Assessment Commission rejected the expansion project over fears that it will impact negatively on nearby horse stud farms.
In December, the New South Wales government announced that it would ban opencut mining in the Hunter Valley, but that it would allow underground mining at Drayton South.
New owner Malabar said that its plans for Drayton South, which is now known as Project Maxwell, were vastly different than previous proposals.
“An underground approach will make a dramatic difference in terms of impacts associated with dust, light, blasting, and noise. It will also mean the mine cannot be seen or heard from the local horse studs, which will be at least 5 km away from the mine entry, and 15 km away from the existing coal processing and rail infrastructure,” Malabar Coal chairperson Wayne Seabrook said on December 1.