Cuesta aims to complete the draft of its definitive feasibility study for the Moorlands thermal coal project by year-end.

“The DFS will be presented in both English and Mandarin versions, for the primary purpose of providing flexibility in obtaining project finance under the best commercial terms for the company,” Cuesta said earlier this month.

While thermal coal markets haven’t improved, the parameters for the DFS have not changed from those established by the mine scoping study released last year.

The Bowen Basin open cut project is targeting 1.9 million tonnes run-of-mine and aims to truck product coal to a rail spur of the closed Blair Athol coal mine 14km away, then rail it to the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal for export.