Makhado Lite30 May 2017 06:39
CEO David Brown said the project now had the necessary mining right, water licence and environmental authorisation. The management could proceed to start fund raising in the second half of 2017 and finalise the marketing plan for the mine.
The last updated estimate of capital costs for Makhado was $280m and the management was considering a "Makhado Lite" plan involving lower capex, a smaller production profile and quicker construction time, Brown said. The amended plan would still deliver significant returns for all involved but would make fundraising more manageable and deliver a marketing plan optimised to market demand. The original plan for Makhado released four years ago was to produce 2.3-million tonnes a year of hard coking coal and 3.2-million tonnes of thermal coal at steady state.
Total capex was estimated at about $406m.
Brown said CoAL had already secured tenure over two of the farms needed for surface rights. Two other large farms were needed, over which there were land claims.
Benchmark coking coal prices were at $149.60/tonne at the end of last week while Richards Bay coal export prices were at $73.20/tonne.