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PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Coal developer Jameson Resources is working to update the prefeasibility study (PFS) on its Crown Mountain project, in British Columbia, as coking coal prices continue to rise.
The junior told shareholders on Tuesday that the fourth-quarter benchmark for coking coal had settled at $200/t, which was up from the third-quarter settlement of about $92/t.
Pulverised coal injection (PCI) prices for the fourth quarter also reportedly settled at $133/t.
These prices compared with the PFS estimates of $170/t and $113/t for coking coal and PCI respectively, while also assuming a Canadian-US exchange rate of 0.92. The rate is currently 0.72.
It is hoped that an update to the PFS will result in not only improved economics for the Crown Mountain project, but also potential savings in the operating and capital costs.
A 2014 PFS estimated that the Crown Mountain project would have a net present value of about $369-million, an internal rate of return of 33% and a payback period of 2.7 years. Based on a resource estimate of 23.7-million tonnes, the project is expected to have a base case production of between 1.5-million tonnes and 2-million tonnes of coal a year over a 16-year mine life. Start-up capital for the project has been estimated at $339.7-million.