“Vogel and other representatives will be visiting the proposed site today and tomorrow,” the ABC reported on Wednesday.
Rey agreed to sell the mine to Hong Kong-based Crystal Yield Investments for $21 million in July, 2013, but three months later CYI exited this deal in favour of becoming a cornerstone investor of Rey instead.
The explorer has since focused on petroleum exploration and opportunities in the Canning Basin –and limited field work for the coal project.
In 2010 the prefeasibility study for Duchess Paradise confirmed the best approach was an initial 2 million tonnes per annum trench highwall mining operation.
After being washed onsite, Rey aimed to truck the coal 180km to Rey’s wharf at Derby, where it could be barged to ships for export.
After 20Mt of highwall mining, Rey had envisioned the opportunity to either develop a 2Mtpa run-of-mine bord-and-pillar operation, or a 4.4Mtpa ROM longwall mine.
