JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – With construction activities well under way and on track, production at Resource Generation’s (Resgen’s) Boikarabelo coal mine, in the Waterberg region, was expected to start in December 2015.
Construction of the six-million-tonne-a-year Stage 1 operation, which started a year ago, was expected to take a further 21 months, with Resgen anticipating finalising funding agreements by June 2014.
Outlining the developments to date in the quarterly report for the three months ended March 2014, the group said, with 260 personnel already working on the site, the 200-person construction camp was nearing completion, with the earthworks to expand the camp to accommodate 1 320 people completed.
Resgen, which had drawn down $20-million of its $55.3-million loan for the rail link during the quarter under review, had started the earthworks for the 40 km rail link from the mine to the existing Transnet Freight Rail network, with initial rail and sleepers delivered to site.
Further, earthworks for the company’s planned $200-million coal handling and preparation plant were also under way.
Danish State-owned export credit agency EKF was currently undertaking due diligence to cover 50% of the cost of the plant’s construction.
Meanwhile, earthworks progressed on the current access road upgrade, the main mine access road construction, a provincial road bypass and road underpasses for the water pipeline from Marapong.
Binding term sheets were in place with Noble Group for a $65-million loan for construction of infrastructure, and negotiations were under way with three parties to fund the mobile equipment that would be required in August 2015.
The company reported cash reserves of $67-million as at March.