The contract was signed with Brightwater PEAT, a joint venture company between Australian owned PEAT and Nelson subsidiary Brightwater Engineering. PEAT has designed more than 27 CPPs around the world.
Located 46km northeast of Greymouth, the 1.5 million tonne per annum capacity CPP and associated equipment will cost $20 million.
The plant will take raw product from the underground mine via a 10.6km slurry pipeline.
Pike River mines general manager Peter Whittall said the plant will feature an elemental analyser to perform continuous online, real-time, precise and accurate analysis of the coal moving on the conveyor belt.
“This gives us a huge advantage when it comes to grading the coal and our ability to maximise our return,” Whittall said.
The plant will be able to deliver coal of differing grades to four stockpiles located on Pike River owned land, where there is storage capacity for 90,000 tonnes.
The CPP will be built over the next 10 months.
Today’s contract is another step in bringing the Pike River project to production and an important part of Pike River’s initial public offering.
The Pike River IPO, expected to raise a minimum of $65 million, closes July 10. Pike River shares are expected to list on the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges around July 20.
