PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Metallurgical coal developer Aspire Mining has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sinosteel Equipment & Engineering to discuss engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) funding options for the Ovoot early development project wash plant, in Mongolia.
The two companies would now enter talks regarding the EPC-based funding, as well as trade-based finance solutions.
“Aspire recognises the importance of having a strong partnership with companies like Sinosteel that play such a major role in the Chinese steel industry, the main market for Ovoot’s high quality coking coal product,” said Aspire executive chairperson David Paull.
A prefeasibility study into the early development project anticipated the construction of a five-million-tonne-a-year coal handling and preparation plant at a cost of $37-million.
The project is expected to deliver four-million tonnes a year of washed saleable coal over an initial 9.2-year period, from a single openpit operation that would make use of only a small portion of the overall Ovoot project reserves.
The base-case development would require a capital investment of $63-million and would deliver a pre-tax net present value of $586-million and an internal rate of return of 43.7%.