WA Today reported that Mining giant BHP would pay a bidder about AUD 275 million to take the biggest coal mine in NSW off its hands even as prices of the fossil fuel soar to levels not seen since 2008. BHP has been shopping its Mt Arthur coal mine near Muswellbrook for more than a year, and on Wednesday slashed its value from about AUD 550 million to a liability of AUD 275 million.The reduction, coming seven months after it dropped AUD 1.6 billion off the book value of the mine, is also an indication of the huge costs of rehabilitation the new owner will have to bear. These include AUD 40 million owed to Muswellbrook Shire Council for a road that BHP dug upChina’s Yancoal, Indian-owned Adani have been named previously as potential buyers of Mt Arthur, while Indonesia’s Sinar Mar is reported to have been a recent suitor that turned away.
WA Today reported that Mining giant BHP would pay a bidder about AUD 275 million to take the biggest coal mine in NSW off its hands even as prices of the fossil fuel soar to levels not seen since 2008. BHP has been shopping its Mt Arthur coal mine near Muswellbrook for more than a year, and on Wednesday slashed its value from about AUD 550 million to a liability of AUD 275 million.The reduction, coming seven months after it dropped AUD 1.6 billion off the book value of the mine, is also an indication of the huge costs of rehabilitation the new owner will have to bear. These include AUD 40 million owed to Muswellbrook Shire Council for a road that BHP dug upChina’s Yancoal, Indian-owned Adani have been named previously as potential buyers of Mt Arthur, while Indonesia’s Sinar Mar is reported to have been a recent suitor that turned away.
