Optimum Coal buys prospecting rights from BHP

[miningmx.com] — OPTIMUM Coal said on Friday it had bought two prospecting rights from BHP Billiton Energy Coal South Africa (Becsa) in a move to boost its portfolio.

Optimum said it would buy from Becsa the Remhoogte prospecting rights, which have an inferred resource of around 306.5 million tonnes.

The R235m acquisition will be funded through the company’s own cash resources and re-financed group debt facilities, it said.

Chief Executive Mike Teke said the acquisition gives Optimum an attractive growth opportunity.

“At this stage it is envisaged that Remhoogte will principally be a replacement for Optimum Colliery’s export saleable production in the medium to long term, although market conditions and an improvement in export logistics could result in the development of the project being expedited,” Teke said in a statement.

The company said a planned Remhoogte mine is expected to produce 2.5 million tonnes of export coal per year and an estimated 400,000 tonnes of middlings product well suitable to supply power utility Eskom’s nearby Camden and Majuba power stations.

The site is located near the coal rail line leading to the Richards Bay Coal Terminal, it added.