PERTH (miningweekly.com) - The share prices of ASX-listed Whitehaven Coal took a tumble on Monday after a hoax media release suggested that commercial bank ANZ had withdrawn its recently announced A$1.2-billion banking facility to the company.
Share prices dropped to a low of A$3.21 on Monday, after opening trading at around A$3.57 a share, wiping nearly A$300-million off the company’s market value.
Whitehaven said in a statement that there was no substance to the hoax release, and added that ANZ had also confirmed that the release had been a hoax.
During December last year, Whitehaven secured the A$1.2-billion, four-year bank facility to replace the company’s existing bank facilities and provide funding for general corporate purposes and capital expenditure.
It was expected that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) would launch an investigation into the matter to see if any laws were broken after anti coal-mining group Front Line Action on Coal claimed responsibility for the stunt.
The group has accused Whitehaven of planning to destroy some 1 360 ha of koala habitat and of forcing farmers off their land because of soil damage resulting from the development of the proposed Maules Creek operation.
The A$651-million Maules Creek’s current resources were expected to support a large opencut mining operation for in excess of 30 years at an average saleable coal production rate of around 10.8-million tons a year.
Subject to the delivery of all necessary approvals, the Maules Creek project was expected to be commissioned and first coal production would commence in mid-2013, with saleable production exceeding 10-million tons a year from 2016 onwards.