Owned 80% by Felix Resources, the planned longwall mine will have a capacity of 2.1 million tonnes to 2.4Mt saleable semi-soft coking coal product, which will be produced for export.
The Ashton opencut mine has meanwhile ramped up to 1.6Mt per annum of semi-soft coking sales as the company focuses on consolidating and lifting performance. In April the mine switched from contract-operated to owner-operated mining.
The indicative plan for the underground development is for portal site excavation to be completed by the 2005 calendar year third quarter and the longwall equipment to be selected and ordered by year’s-end.
Portal development is scheduled for the first quarter of 2006, with the longwall expected to be in production by the first half of 2007. The company said detailed planning and final feasibility is underway with development planned to start in the fourth quarter and full production in 2007.
Measured resources for the underground project total 67.4Mt, while reserves, mainly probable, total 38.4Mt. A 13-year mine life is planned from three seams.
Other development projects include the 100% owned Moolarben coal development project near Mudgee in New South Wales. Opencut resources total 103.6Mt and underground resources 186Mt.
Moolarben is being proposed as a 4Mtpa thermal coal opencut operation by 2008, ahead of a 3Mtpa longwall by 2009. An exploration licence was granted this year and pre-feasibility design work is underway.
The 2.5Mtpa Minerva mine development project (70% interest) is on track for start-up in 2006 while production from the Yarrabee opencut mine in Queensland has stabilised at 1.7Mtpa.
Felix also has a 70% interest in the Athena underground exploration project surrounding the Minerva project. Inferred resources total 560Mt and all seams are believed to be over 2m in thickness.
The 100% held Harrybrandt exploration project, near Coppabella in Queensland, has inferred resources of 42.8Mt and could potentially be developed as an opencut mine. Felix plans to submit a mining lease application in 2006.
