Australian Pacific Coal (APC) has accelerated its restart program at the Dartbrook mine in the New South Wales Hunter Valley region, with first coal expected by mid-2024.
Following the execution of a three year $US60 million ($90 million) debt facility in January with Vitol Asia, APC has begun putting the cash injection to work.
Orders have been placed with suppliers for critical equipment and long lead items, including remaining sections of the underground conveyor system.
AQC said the company and its partners are currently evaluating a range of options to accelerate the restart work program and ramp up period within forecast expenditure limits.
“This is an exciting period for AQC and the Dartbrook mine which is a high-quality asset that has been in care and maintenance since 2006,” APC interim chief executive officer Ayten Saridas said.
“Since we announced the completion of the Dartbrook restart funding package in January, we have focused on moving the project forward on multiple fronts.
“With the funds now fully available for the development, orders have been placed for critical equipment and long lead items, and we have begun recruiting additional key personnel.”
AQC will also further examine the potential of Dartbrook mine to produce commercial quantities of semi-soft coking coal under the current mine plan.
With met coal currently trading at a premium to thermal coal, producing significant volumes of semi-soft coking coal would set APC up to boost its cash flow.
“We anticipate that sourcing a working capital facility will be relatively straightforward now that restart operations are fully funded,” Saridas said.
“Vitol and our advisors have offered to assist us in this process which could open a number of doors to AQC that were previously unavailable.”
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