Joint venture partner and 25% stakeholder Erdene Resource Development said Xstrata had embarked on various key elements of the coking coal project since February.
Last week, Municipal Ready Mix was awarded the contract to construct the 2.5-kilometre access road by mid-July, while Sedgman has a study underway for a wash plant.
GW Engineering and Kellogg Brown & Root are undertaking a prefeasibility study on the offshore transportation system while consultancy Marston is doing a prefeasibility study on the revised project scope.
Revised development plans are looking into barge-to-ship coal transportation.
The project has received approvals to mine up to 350,000 tonnes of raw coal but previous plans involved trucking the coal during the initial years.
Engineering firm Stantec won the contracts for the environmental assessment work while Erdene said the JV intended to file all government applications in the next 12 months.
"We are extremely pleased with the way the Donkin coal project has advanced over the past two months," Erdene president and chief executive Peter Akerley said.
"During that time, in addition to the mine road construction, significant efforts have been dedicated to engineering the coal preparation plant, barge loading facility and working with the regulators to finalise the path to development.”
Xstrata holds 75% of the Donkin project and in February announced new plans to target 2.75 million tonnes per annum of washed coking coal exports.
The project was originally aiming for 4Mtpa of production for domestic and export markets, but local utility Nova Scotia Power decided late last year it would not take coal from Donkin.
Xstrata is going ahead even though it is also seeking potential strategic partners.
Donkin has 227Mt of indicated resources and 254Mt of inferred resources.
The coal is a high-volatile A bituminous type with high sulfur and medium ash content.
The resource lies under the sea floor in the Sydney coalfield and the Donkin block is accessible from the north coast of Cape Breton.
Cape Breton’s coal fields historically served the European and North American steel industries, and lie close to major shipping routes and deep water off the coast.
