Increases Port Allocation at Ridley to 13.5MTPA
Perth, Mar 29, 2012 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Coalspur Mines Limited (
ASX:CPL) (TSE:CPT) is pleased to announce that it has reached a second agreement with Ridley Terminals Inc. ("Ridley Terminals") on terms for the shipment of export thermal coal from Coalspur's Vista Coal Project ("Vista") for an additional 5.0Mtpa. Subject to requisite Government approvals for the addition of a fourth stacker / reclaimer at Ridley Terminals, the second agreement provides for 4.0Mtpa to be supplied from an incremental expansion at Ridley Terminals that will increase capacity from 25.0Mtpa to 30.0Mtpa. This expansion is expected to be approved during 2012. In addition, pursuant to the second agreement, Ridley Terminals has granted Coalspur an option for an additional 1.0Mtpa from the current expansion plan at Ridley Terminals.
This follows an earlier agreement with Ridley Terminals, which was announced in October 2011, which entitles Coalspur to 8.5Mtpa of port allocation and contains similar commercial terms. Coalspur now has committed port allocation of 10.0Mtpa and an option for up to a further 3.5Mtpa which satisfies the port allocation required for Vista and allows for additional throughput.
Commenting on the port agreement with Ridley Terminals, Gene Wusaty, Managing Director and CEO, said "This additional port allocation is a significant achievement for Coalspur as it fully satisfies the port requirements for Vista and allows for production optimization at Vista and future development opportunities. We are confident that a portion of the excess port capacity will be utilized through production enhancements at Vista that are currently underway as part of the ongoing engineering. We believe we are in a unique position amongst coal development companies worldwide with our fully committed port allocation at an existing facility and access to underutilized rail capacity."
Ridley Terminals
Ridley Terminals is a Canadian Federal Crown Corporation that is located in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Ridley Terminals is the most northern deepwater port in North America and has the ability to handle capesize vessels up to 250,000 deadweight tonnage. Currently handling capacity is 12 million tonnes which is undergoing an expansion to 25 million tonnes. The facility is serviced by the Canadian National Railroad and is well positioned to handle coals from a variety of North American origins.
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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