PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The board of dual-listed Coalspur has approved the C$458-million development plan for the Vista coal project, in Canada.

The Phase 1 development would involve the construction and commissioning of a six-million-tonne-a-year thermal coal facility by 2015, with the capacity to expand to 12-million tonnes a year.

This approved development plan compared with an initial two-staged, C$655-million development option, which would also have seen Vista deliver some six-million tonnes a year.

The miner said on Wednesday that the accelerated development of the Vista project was as a result of a modified execution strategy and efficient re-engineering of the materials handling infrastructure and process flowsheet.

“We are extremely pleased with the development plan that the board has approved, as it significantly enhances shareholder value,” said Coalspur president and CEO Gill Winckler.

“Shareholders will benefit from reduced capital requirements and a faster production ramp-up than previously contemplated. Furthermore, being able to construct the facility in one stage, as opposed to the previously envisaged two stages, provides for more effective project execution and delivery.”

Winckler noted that the current downturn in the commodities industry, with the associated pressure on commodity prices and service industries, afforded Coalspur considerable opportunity to finalise the Vista project execution strategy and capital.

“This is evident through our capital efficiency of C$76/t of capacity, which is very competitive with comparable thermal coal greenfield and brownfield expansion projects,” Winckler added.

It was expected that the Vista project would be completed by mid-2015, and would produce some three-million tonnes of clean coal during that year, ramping-up production to six-million tonnes a year by 2016.

Coalspur has agreed the terms of a fixed-price, fixed-term engineering, procurement and construction contract, and regulatory approval for the development of Vista was expected by the end of June.

In April, the miner entered into a senior debt facility for up to $350-million, which would provide some 80% of the total development expenditure to construct the first phase of the Vista project.

The remaining funding would be secured over the next 9 to 12 months, by way of a strategic partner, marketing or offtake transactions.