PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed coal developer Tigers Realm Resources has acquired the operational Beringovsky port and coal terminal, in Russia.
The port, which has historically handled over 700 000 t/y of coal from the Nagornaya mine, would be progressively refurbished and expanded to at least a one-million-tonne-a-year capacity, Tigers Realm said.
Under the terms of the agreement, the junior developer would gain exclusive ownership and management rights over the port in exchange for $5.1-million, which would be funded through cash reserves.
Tigers Realm CEO Craig Parry said that securing low-cost access to transport infrastructure for the company’s Amaam North deposit, and the proposed Project F mine, was critical to the success of these projects.
“We are very pleased with the acquisition of Beringovsky port at a very competitive price. We now own and control a port that, once refurbished, will have the ability to start shipping Project F coking coal and has the optionality for expansion to at least one-million tonnes a year.”
Parry added that the acquisition laid the foundation for the infrastructure component of the Amaam projects, which include the development of the larger, deep-water Arinay port to the south of Beringovsky, some 25 km from the planned Amaam coking coal mine.
Tigers Realm has estimated an inferred and indicated resource at Amaam of 464-million tonnes plus an additional exploration target of between 120-million to 205-million tonnes.
A prefeasibility study was completed in 2013, which demonstrated Amaam to be a robust project, with combined openpit and underground production of up to 6.5-million tonnes a year, and average total cash costs of $98/t over a 20-year life.