Domain B reported that International Coal Ventures Ltd and Chinese state owned enterprise Henan Coal Chemical Industry Group are among the bidders for Australia's Aquila Resources coal mine Washpool coking coal project, which is valued as much as AUD 400 million.
Bids are due by the end of next month and Aquila expects to close the sale by November.
Perth based Aquila, which holds stakes in coal, iron ore and manganese projects in Australia, South Africa and Botswana has put its 100%-owned Washpool Project and its entire 74% stake in Avontuur manganese project in South Africa up for sale in order to raise around AUD 1 billion to fund its flagship AUD 6 billion, 30 million tonne a year West Pilbara iron ore development.
The Washpool Project involves the development of a Greenfield open cut coal mine producing up to 2.6 million tonnes per annum of hard coking coal used in steel making. Construction is expected to start in 2012 with first coal being produced in 2013. The project will include infrastructure such as, coal handling and processing plant, mine infrastructure area consisting of offices, workshops and stockpile areas, water management systems, haul road; and train load out area to transport coal to Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal.
The mine is estimated to hold deposit around 185.5 million tonnes of hard coking coal and is expected to produce up to 2.6 million tonnes of coal per year and approximately 38 million tonnes over the 15 to 20 year life of the project.
Henan Coal is one of the largest state-owned enterprises in Henan province and the second largest coal producer in China after Shenhua Group in terms of revenue. Its coal output was 70 million tonnes in 2010, which the company aims to raise to around 90 million tonnes in 2011 and 100 million tonnes in 2012. The company reported 2010 revenue of CNY 140 billion and net profit of CNY 8 billion. It owns over 40 billion tonnes of coal deposit, 1.2 million tonnes of molybdenum industrial reserve, the largest in China, and 1.6 billion tonnes of domestic and foreign bauxite resources.
(Sourced from domain-b.com)
