The AIM-listed company said it had signed a letter of intent with majority foreign-owned local merchant bank Equity Partners Limited for an initial public offering later this year to help fund the Phulbari project.
The local listing will take place as soon as practical following project approval by the Bangladesh Government. Approval of the project has been delayed several times past its original due date of early January.
The planned opencut Phulbari mine has established a resource of 572 million tonnes of high quality thermal and semi-soft coking coal and is expected to produce 15 million tonnes per annum.
Pre-mining activity is scheduled to start immediately following project approval with first coal expected late 2008 and production then increasing to 15Mtpa by 2013. The company is also proposing to build a 500MW power plant at the minesite.
