Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Atrum Coal has raised A$22-million through a share placement to progress its Elan hard coking coal project, in Alberta, Canada, through prefeasibility study (PFS) and the formal permitting application.
Atrum issued 95.7-million shares, priced at 23c each, over two tranches to institutional and sophisticated investors based in Australia and internationally.
The first tranche will consist of some 66.7-million shares and will be issued under the company’s existing capacity, while the second tranche of 29-million shares will be subject to shareholder approval at an annual general meeting to be held in June.
“Following the recent completion of the successful scoping study on the Elan project, this equity raising allows us to confidently plan for the key PFS workstreams needing to be undertaken over the coming year,” said Atrum MD and CEO Max Wang.
“We are now well funded to undertake all activities required for completion of a PFS on Elan and submission of a detailed permitting application for development of this world-class hard coking coal asset. We continue to assess the operating environment around Covid-19 and while safety remains our overarching priority, we will be actively looking to ramp up on-the-ground drilling activities and PFS work at the first, safe available opportunity.”
Completion of the PFS is targeted for mid-2021.
A scoping study into the Elan project considered two development options, including a 10-million-tonne-a-year run-of-mine (RoM) production rate and a 7.5-million-tonne-a-year production rate. Over both scenarios, Elan is expected to deliver 126-million tonnes of RoM coal, with a mine life expectancy of between 15 and 19 years.