As the company moves towards development of this potentially long life, high quality, metallurgical coal project, management is focused on reducing capital and operating cost estimates while pursuing opportunities to expand the project, it said.
“Achievement of these objectives will further improve the Belview project economics and enhance the company’s ability to attract appropriate strategic project partners in the future,” it said.
Stanmore’s Clifford coal project – also in Queensland – is part way through a three-year funding commitment from JOGMEC for up to $4.5 million of exploration support.
The current program is anticipated to delineate a JORC Resource over one or several areas within the tenement which would form the basis for infill drilling and additional quality testing throughout 2015.
Initial quality results were promising and further exploration will indicate the prospectivity of several target areas, according to Stanmore.
“The company is firmly of the belief that coal will continue to play a vital role in the global market for many decades to come. In electricity generation, coal is a reliable and very cheap form of base-load supply,” it said.
“Given these features it is likely that coal will play a very significant role in the development of emerging regions such as India and ASEAN. While these regions have experienced substantial growth in coal use in the few years, per capita energy consumption levels are only one eighth that of OECD countries leaving substantial room for further growth.
“Importantly, the company believes that Australian coal will continue to play a key role in providing a cost effective raw material for energy and steel production in Asia. Cleaner, low emission energy coal into Asia will help improve the living standards and public health outcomes for millions of people.
“Widespread adoption of best practice coal fired generation technology will also play a significant role in the continued importance of coal. Nations such as Japan are actively promoting these technologies and assisting developing nations with installation of high efficiency coal-fired power stations which consume less coal and therefore produce fewer emissions than their predecessors.
“The current low point in the global seaborne coal trade cycle presents an excellent opportunity to prudently expand the company’s asset base within an environment of realistic asset prices.
“The company aims to capitalise on these expansion opportunities to position the business for inevitable cyclical strengthening.
“Stanmore Coal and its team have a strong history of identifying and capitalising on value adding opportunities which are more prevalent in the current environment.”
