Coalspur Mines Limited (ASX:CPL) Commence Bankable Feasibility Study On Vista Coal Project
Perth, April 11, 2011 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Coalspur Mines Limited (
ASX:CPL) (TSE:CPT) (PINK:CSPZF) is pleased to announce that the BFS for Vista has now commenced and is scheduled for completion by December 2011.
The BFS will build on the substantial technical and feasibility studies already undertaken on Vista, including the recently completed PFS which confirmed Vista's technical and economic viability to operate with strong cash margins.
Commenting on the commencement of the BFS, Mr Gene Wusaty, Managing Director and CEO, said "This is an exciting time for the Company and all of its stakeholders as we have now begun the final stage before we formally commence construction at Vista. The PFS confirmed the economical viability of Vista and the BFS will help maximize its potential to be a strategic player in the world export thermal coal market."
"The appointment of Snowden was a natural selection for us and clearly the best fit for the overall project manager's role. Snowden has a highly credentialed mining team based in Calgary and has existing close working relationships with the other firms that will perform specialist functions for the BFS. Snowden are also part of the international engineering and infrastructure group Downer, who have already worked on our PFS and are experts in the design and construction of coal wash plants around the world."
"We have already selected and completed the appointment of an experienced owner's team, all of whom have extensive project management and coal mine operating experience in Canada, and will now combine with Snowden to rapidly progress completion of the BFS."
Scope of the BFS
The BFS is scheduled for completion by December 2011 and will focus on:
- Annual production capacity
- Mine engineering and scheduling
- Coal quality
- Geology and resource modelling
- Coal crushing and handling
- Coal processing and thermal drying
- Infrastructure, transport and logistics
- Geotechnical, dewatering and site water management
- Operating and capital cost assessment
- Market price forecasting
- Mine and environmental permitting
Environmental permitting, geology and resource estimation will remain the responsibility of the preferred contractors already in place. Millennium EMS Solutions Ltd is responsible for the environmental and regulatory considerations and Moose Mountain Technical Services will provide the geology and resource estimation.
BFS Consortium
Following the completion of a comprehensive and competitive tender process, the BFS was awarded to Snowden, a subsidiary of Downer who will act as the overall project manager for a consortium of highly experienced coal industry firms. Coalspur has a long standing relationship with Downer from their work on the Pre-Feasibility Study that was completed on Vista in 2010.
The firms chosen to participate in the BFS are internationally recognized and will provide personnel who have significant coal industry experience. The selected project team members from each firm are specialists in preparing various aspects of coal mining studies required for the BFS.
Snowden - Overall Project Manager
Snowden has been selected to act as the overall project manager on the BFS given their proven track record in providing clients with the information and solutions necessary to optimize their investment in the resources sector. They will be responsible for the overall project management, financial analysis and creation of the NI 43-101 compliant BFS documentation.
Snowden has 24 years of international experience in providing consulting services, technology solutions and technical training to the mining and related sectors. In the last four years Snowden has completed feasibility studies on three large scale coal projects located in South Africa, Mozambique and New Zealand. Snowden has selected a project management team comprised of Canadian based geologists and mine engineers who have experience designing and managing open pit coal mines in both North and South America.
Marston Canada Ltd. ("Marston") - Mine Engineering
Marston is a full-service international geological and mining consulting firm that brings over 30 years of corporate experience in geologic and mine modelling, design, engineering and management experience. Marston brings relevant recent experience in successfully integrating draglines with large complex truck-shovel operations. Their worldwide experience and includes projects in North America, Australia and South Africa. Marston is responsible for the mining engineering aspects of the BFS as well as support for the mine license application.
CPG Resources - QCC Pty Ltd ("QCC"), a subsidiary of Downer EDI Limited (ASX:DOW) - Processing Plant and Thermal Dryer Design
QCC was chosen to participate in the BFS on the basis of their diligence and expertise that they demonstrated during the work they performed on the PFS. QCC's work for the BFS will include the assurance that the clean coal products will meet the required specifications of future customers. QCC will work closely with CWA on all of the material handling and infrastructure aspects of the BFS. QCC has had significant involvement with a large number of operational and feasibility studies for other coal deposits in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Indonesia, Bangladesh, China, Mongolia and Russia.
CWA Engineers Inc. ("CWA") - Infrastructure design
CWA is a premier consulting engineering and project management firm with a track record of successfully delivering multi-discipline engineering projects in Canada. CWA's expertise not only includes feasibility studies but also full service project and construction management. CWA has recent engineering and construction experience in the coal fields of northeast British Columbia and brings significant Canadian cold weather experience. CWA is responsible for all infrastructure design and the raw and clean coal handling, stockpiling, reclaim systems and will provide input to all of the QCC designs.
Klohn Crippen Berger Ltd. ("KCB") - Geotechnical
KCB has 30 years of experience in coal mining projects in Western Canada and has established offices in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta. KCB is responsible for all geotechnical aspects of the BFS, including foundation design for infrastructure, the processing facility, and waste rock disposal sites, as well as dragline stability and open-pit highwall design and monitoring criteria. KCB is also responsible for pit wall and footwall dewatering design, process water supply, storage and recycle design, site water management design, and a sustainable water management plan for mine closure.
For the complete Coalspur Mines Limited announcement including figures and tables, please view the following link:
http://www.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/536846.pdf
About Coalspur Mines Limited
Coalspur Mines Limited (ASX:CPL) (TSE:CPT) is a coal development company with approximately 55,000 hectares of coal leases located within the Hinton region of Alberta, Canada. Coalspur's flagship project is Vista, which covers approximately 10,000 hectares and provides a large scale, surface mineable, thermal coal development. Vista is located adjacent to CN Rail's main line, which is suitable for the transport of coal to deepwater ports on Canada's west coast. Coalspur has secured a port allocation agreement with Ridley Terminals Inc., which is essential to the logistics supply chain necessary to export coal from Vista to the growing demand from the Asia Pacific countries.
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