MARKETS

South Galilee to produce 15Mtpa

BANDANNA Energy's South Galilee project in Queensland will produce an average production rate of ...

Lauren Barrett
South Galilee to produce 15Mtpa

Bandanna said these figures represented the potential for a large scale thermal coal project at South Galilee which would require access to the port at Abbot Point.

Bandanna, which has labelled itself an “emerging force in the Australian thermal coal sector”, said feasibility studies completed during the June quarter found its “golden triangle” in Queensland’s Bowen Basin also had massive potential.

Despite unfavourable weather limiting field operations and drilling at the golden triangle projects consisting of Springsure Creek, Arcturus and Arcadia, the company managed to record a combined JORC resource exceeding 800Mt with the potential to produce in excess of 200Mt of thermal coal.

Wet weather and associated soil conditions prevented drilling operations at its Arcturus project but technical and commercial studies still proceeded in the quarter.

The proposed mine, which is expected to produce 5Mtpa of product coal is estimated to have an export thermal coal ash content of 13% which can be sold raw.

The proposed mine has the potential to link to the Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal infrastructure at Gladstone which will enable international export of thermal coal.

Bandanna said subject to approval Arcturus could be in production by 2014.

While wet weather restricted drilling at the Springsure Creek, Bandanna still managed to drill 12 holes for a total of 2621 metres.

Bandanna recently increased the indicated resources at its Springsure Creek longwall project to 129.5Mt – up from 72.2Mt – while total resources at the project climbed 15.5% to 374.5Mt.

Bandanna managing director Ray Shaw previously said the new resource statement confirmed the project’s potential.

“This resource increase highlights the quality asset that our Springsure Creek project clearly represents,” Shaw said.

Bandanna has been able to continue work at the Springsure Creek and Arcturus Downs projects after it qualified for lighter measures under transitional arrangements for the Queensland government’s proposed strategic cropping land policy in June.

The lighter measures handed down to Bandanna under the SCL policy gave the company the go-ahead to develop two mines expected to produce a total of 16Mtpa of coal per year.

Bandanna will focus on coal exploration and the development of Arcturus and Springsure creek in the next quarter.

The company will also attend to infrastructure needs to meet WICET stage 1 and stage 2 commitments.

After the reporting period Bandanna was made aware that under a farm-in agreement private resources company AMCI would elect to contribute remaining funds to extend the requisite $25 million to earn a 50% interest in the project.

TOPICS:

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

editions

ESG Mining Company Index: Benchmarking the Future of Sustainable Mining

The ESG Mining Company Index report provides an in-depth evaluation of ESG performance of 61 of the world's largest mining companies. Using a robust framework, it assesses each company across 9 meticulously weighted indicators within 6 essential pillars.

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Exploration Report 2024 (feat. Opaxe data)

A comprehensive review of exploration trends and technologies, highlighting the best intercepts and discoveries and the latest initial resource estimates.

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Future Fleets Report 2024

The report paints a picture of the equipment landscape and includes detailed profiles of mines that are employing these fleets

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Digitalisation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations that use digitalisation technology to drive improvements across all areas of mining production