Tinkler splurges $70m on Peabody coal mine
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Entrepreneur Nathan Tinkler is back in the coal business, splurging $70-million to buy the Wilkie Creek coal mine, in Queensland, from US energy major Peabody Energy.
Tinkler, through his Singapore-based Bentley Resources, signed a sales and purchase agreement with Peabody earlier this week, which included the assumption of rail and port obligations, as well as other liabilities.
It was speculated that the port and rail liabilities could be worth as much as $34.5-million, while the other liabilities could include a $21.1-million charge for the acceleration in the timing of the asset retirement and some $4.8-million in other charges.
The Wilkie Creek operation has been closed since December last year. At the time, the mine employed about 200 staff and delivered about 1.5-million tonnes of saleable coal a year from an opencut operation.
Peabody was forced to close the mine on the back of the declining commodity prices.
Those same commodity prices were largely responsible for the collapse of Tinkler’s coal empire, which prompted him to sell out of coal producer Whitehaven. The electrician-turned-mining tycoon, who has been in the news frequently in the last year as his wealth plummeted when coal prices declined, also sold other assets such as Aston Metals, residential property and racing horses to repay debts.
Tinkler’s rise began in 2006 when he bought the Middlemount coal mine, in Queensland, for A$11.5-million. He later sold a majority stake in the mine to Macarthur Coal for cash and shares worth a combined A$241-million. By 2008, he was Australia’s second-richest man under the age of 40.
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