The company has also revealed its cash and deposits were $29.9 million as of September 30, as it prepares to develop the Doyles Creek longwall mine into production.

“Japan is one of our longest standing and most important trading partners and the company is pleased to have MMI [Mitsui Matsushima International], a 100% owned subsidiary of a major Japanese Corporation, be involved in the joint venture project,” he said

“The proposed $40 million expenditure by MMI values the Doyles Creek Project at $360 million, or 47 cents per NuCoal share, which clearly highlights the value and quality associated with the company’s assets".

NuCoal shares, which are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, last traded at 15c.

The results of the prefeasibility study announced for the project in July concluded the project had a robust financial and technical basis, with a net present value of $523 million at a 10% discount rate.

The Doyles Creek longwall was found to be technically and economically feasible and would have a mine life of 21 years, according to its prefeasibility study.

The study, prepared by Palaris Mining, found that the project would have extraction rates of 5 million tonnes per annum from its Whynot seam and 5.3Mtpa from the Whybrow seam.

Doyles Creek would have a total ROM production of 101Mt of semi soft coking coal with average pit top ROM cash cost of $31.44 per tonne.

It would have average FOB cash costs of $65.77/t excluding royalties, which would position the project in the lowest quartile of operating costs for seaborne metallurgical coal projects, according to the report.