Bowen completes Broadmeadow East buy

30th September 2020 By: Esmarie Iannucci - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Australasia

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Bowen Coking Coal has completed the acquisition of the Broadmeadow East coking coal project from US major Peabody.

The two companies in June this year struck an agreement allowing Bowen to acquire the Broadmeadow East project for a A$1-million cash consideration. Bowen would also pay royalties of A$1/t on all of the coal sold and produced from the project area, capped at a maximum of 1.5-million tonnes.

Furthermore, Bowen has agreed to assume the environmental rehabilitation obligations for the project, along with a A$500 000 cash consideration for land compensation, payable on the start of site works or the renewal of the mining lease.

In addition to the acquisition of the mining lease for the Broadmeadow East project, Bowen would also be granted land access for exploration, development and mining, and would be assigned a one-million-tonne-a-year throughput capacity at the New Lenton coal handling and preparation plant and the train loadout facility. The parties could also agree to a further one-million-tonne throughput capacity.

Bowen MD Gerhard Redelinghuys said on Wednesday that the company was excited about having completed the Broadmeadow East acquisition ahead of schedule.

“As the project sits on a granted mining lease, Broadmeadow East now becomes our most advanced openpit coking coal project. We have already commenced the necessary planning and regulator submissions to determine the optimal mine plan and associated environmental authorisations, with a view to being shovel ready as soon as practically possible.

“Alongside Hillalong and Isaac River, we now have three openpit coking coal projects which we are driving towards production. This reflects our intention to become a significant producer of high quality coking coal from Queensland’s premier Bowen basin in the near term.”

Broadmeadow East currently has a resource estimate of some 33-million tonnes, and an exploration programme is planned to test potential resource extensions along with large diameter drill holes to provide detailed coal quality data for marketing purposes.