Quarterly Activities Report - 31 December 2014
Vancouver, Jan 29, 2015 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Atrum Coal NL ("Atrum" or the "Company") (
ASX:ATU) (ATRCF:OTCMKTS) is pleased to report the Company's activities for the quarter ended 31 December 2014 in relation to its flagship Groundhog Anthracite Project and the advanced development of the Groundhog North Mine located in British Columbia, Canada.
Commenting on the quarterly achievements, Executive Chairman James Chisholm stated:
"This past quarter has been a very active and busy time for Atrum. Importantly, we have identified multiple market segments for the high grade and ultra-high grade anthracite at our 800sqkm Groundhog tenure, and multiple potential mine sites in addition to Groundhog North. We have built our operational team to achieve the key milestone of 'first anthracite on ship' and our supplementary PFS (SPFS) has demonstrated that under an owner operator model, the Groundhog North Underground Mine is able to generate a post-tax NPV of $1.7bn.
"The Company is now in discussions with major steel manufacturers and key traders to secure offtake MoU's whilst continuing to review the exceptional results of our 2014 drilling program, which has provided additional mine development opportunities.
"Our on-site crew has reduced from more than 40 personnel at camp to 5 for winter maintenance while we plan for our forthcoming drill season and prepare to commence mining operations and site civil works. The Company is focused on obtaining development funding for the Groundhog project as we progress with transitioning the Groundhog North Underground Mine into production. Our mandated tier one investment bank has been assisting us in this regard. We are also using the time to plan for first anthracite sales.
"We have identified several small, shallow, low stripping ratio, low-cost, continuous rehabilitation open-pit opportunities that would complement our existing underground mine plan. Selected pits are being included in our SPFS to provide a low capital cost entry to mining. The modified financials from starting with a small open-cut operation are even more compelling than our stand-alone underground mine proposed at Groundhog North.
"In addition to exploring and developing the world's largest high-grade and ultra-high-grade anthracite resource, the Company also proved a significant metallurgical project at Elan in southwestern Alberta. The coal intersections encountered at the Elan project demonstrated the exciting opportunity that exists and as previously advised, the Board has elected to put the spin-out of Kuro on hold in order to add more value. We are awaiting coal quality, geological modelling and JORC reports at present.
"We are very excited by the development milestones that have been achieved at Groundhog and the exploration success at Elan. The Company is focussed on securing the necessary development partners and funds to help realise the potential of the Groundhog anthracite field in 2015. The year has started well, with lump anthracite selling for more than US$200/t due to supply disruptions from Russia and Ukraine, and this buoyancy is expected to continue throughout 2015."
GROUNDHOG ANTHRACITE PROJECT
The Groundhog Anthracite Project (Groundhog) is located in the Groundhog Coalfield in the northern part of the Bowser Basin in north-western British Columbia, approximately 890 km northwest of Vancouver, 150 km northeast of Stewart, and 300 km northeast of Prince Rupert.
During the quarter, the Company completed its drilling at Groundhog, demobilising equipment and crew reducing the number of operational personnel on site from in excess of 40 personnel in camp to 5, with a commensurate reduction in operational expenditures.
The Company is now focused on delivering offtake MoU's from major steel producers and key traders. During the quarter, the Company spent considerable effort on coal quality analysis, working with some of the major steel manufacturers in Japan and Korea to further enhance the understanding of the use and quality of the anthracite developed at Groundhog. This was complemented by the delivery of test marketing samples which were received favourably, and as a pre-cursor to the delivery of larger trial batches from the proposed Bulk Sample area at Groundhog North Underground Mine.
The Company is focused on obtaining development funding for the Groundhog project as progress continues with the transitioning of the Groundhog North Underground Mine into production. The Company has been working with a tier one investment bank to assist management to secure the necessary development funds.
The Groundhog Anthracite Project (Groundhog), including Panorama, now comprises 45 granted coal licences and 33 coal licence applications covering an area of 81,616 hectares (816sqkm). Groundhog is prospective for high grade and ultra-high grade anthracite suitable for application in the steel and ferro-alloy industries.
The Groundhog Anthracite Project is located in close proximity to key mining infrastructure including rail, port, road, power and water facilities. A rail easement or 'right-of-way' completed by the British Columbia Railway ("BCR") runs through the Groundhog Anthracite Project for approximately 30km southwards. At this point it connects with existing rail, at the Minaret Terminus, and continues on to the dedicated coal terminals at the deep sea ports of Prince Rupert and Port Metro Vancouver. The distance by rail from the Groundhog Anthracite Project to Fort St. James is 381 km; to the regional centre with extensive rail marshalling yards, Prince George is 497 km; to the deep sea port of Prince Rupert via the British Columbia and the Canadian National railways is 1,234 km; and to the deep sea port at Vancouver is 1,294 km.
The Groundhog Anthracite Project is also approximately 150km north east of the deep sea port town of Stewart, where Atrum holds a non-take-or-pay port contract.
The Company has investigated the construction of a private haul road, which would create a 215km direct access corridor from the Groundhog North Mine to the deep water port of Stewart.
ANTHRACITE RESOURCES
The JORC resources at Groundhog are currently 1.57Bt, as summarised in the table below:
JORC Category Resource (Mt)Measured 16Indicated 553Inferred 998Total 1,567Mt
To view the full quarterly, including tables and figures, please visit:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-ATU-707660.pdf
About Atrum Coal Limited
Atrum Coal Limited (ASX:ATU) is a metallurgical coal developer. The Company flagship asset is the 100%-owned Elan Hard Coking Coal Project in southern Alberta, Canada. Elan hosts large-scale, shallow, thick, hard coking coal (HCC) deposits with a current JORC Resource Estimate of 298 Mt (70 Mt Indicated and 228 Mt Inferred). Comprehensive quality testing of Elan South coal on samples from the 2018 exploration program, combined with review of substantial historical testwork data for the broader Elan Project, has confirmed Tier 1 HCC quality.
The initial focus for development is the Elan South area, which is located approximately 13 km from an existing rail line with significant excess capacity, providing direct rail access to export terminals in Vancouver and Prince Rupert. Elan South shares its southern boundary with Riversdale Resources Grassy Mountain Project, which is in the final permitting stage for a 4.5 Mtpa open-cut HCC operation. Around 30km to the west, Teck Resources operates five mines (the Elk Valley complex) producing approximately 25 Mtpa of premium HCC for the seaborne market.
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