PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Coal developer Jameson Resources is working to lower the operating and capital costs for its Crown Mountain coking coal project, in Canada, in an effort to take advantage of the higher coal price environment.
Jameson, which is in the pre-application phase for its environmental assessment process at the Crown Mountain mine, noted on Monday that when combined with the current Canadian and US dollar exchange rates, the surge in the price of coking coal resulted in the project economics approaching those presented in the 2014 prefeasibility study (PFS) for the project.
The 2014 PFS estimated that the Crown Mountain project would have a net present value of about $369-million, an internal rate of return of 33% and a payback period of 2.7 years.
Based on a resource estimate of 23.7-million tonnes, the project is expected to have a base case production of between 1.5-million tonnes and 2-million tonnes of coal a year over a 16-year mine life. Start-up capital for the project has been estimated at $339.7-million.
Jameson is currently completing its documentation for the environmental assessment process.