PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Takeover target Cokal has received full forestry approval for its Bumi Barito Mineral (BBM) coal project, in Indonesia.
The company announced on Thursday that the Environment and Forestry Minister had issued a borrow and use of forest area permit, concluding the final approval process necessary to allow Cokal to start production at the mine.
Some 1 242 ha of land is covered under the forestry permit and included the initial mine site, haul road and port operations.
In addition to the forestry permit, Cokal also had an approved mining licence and full environmental approval to extract up to six-million tonnes a year of coal.
“We are pleased that the final stage of the forestry permitting process is now complete. With the delays in finalising the permitting process behind us, we can now look to the future and focus our efforts on the delivery of the BBM project,” said chairperson Peter Lynch.
The BBM project would initially entail a two-million-tonne-a-year operation, which could be expanded to a six-million-tonne-a-year operation. A feasibility study estimated that a capital investment of $75-million would be required to establish the operation. Based on the current resource of 261-million tonnes, the project would have an estimated life of ten years.
In March, Indonesian firm PT Carka Mineral TBK made a takeover offer, offering shareholders A$75.5-million for their collective shareholding in the company.
Carka was offering shareholders 16c a share in cash, a premium of 82% on Cokal’s last trading price before the offer.
The Indonesian firm was expected to launch its bidders statement by the end of the week.