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Atlantic Coal's revenues climb in 2012

Fri, 24 May 2013 20:24:00 +1000

Atlantic Coal’s (LON:ATC) annual revenues rose sharply as production from its Stockton colliery in Pennsylvania hit record levels, though anthracite prices are softer this year, it said.

The US-based coal miner’s income rose by 41% in 2012 to US$19.7mln (US$14mln) as Stockton’s clean coal production rose 61% to 161,500 tons and average sale prices edged up to US$150.91 per ton (US$142.33).

Gross profits soared to US$4mln (from US$0.2mln), while pre-tax losses were reduced to US$2.7mln from US$3.1mln.

The miner would have been closer to break-even had it not been for costs of US$1.87mln for an option on a property Atlantic eventually decided not to take up.

It did take up its option over the nearby Pott and Bannon (P&B) site, which it believes will be transformational for the company. P&B, which cost £6mln, will add 4.1 million tonnes (Mt) of clean coal to Stockton’s saleable reserves of 1.7Mt.

Going forward, Atlantic has already announced a 67% increase in production in the first three months of 2013 and a 91% increase in coal sales but on Thursday it said anthracite prices had continued to weaken from the US$139.84 average of the first quarter.

Killara Resources planning acquisition, enters trading halt

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:00:00 +1000

Killara Resources (ASX: KRA) is planning to make an acquisition and has entered a trading halt.

It expects the halt to trading in its securities to last until the release of announcement or Tuesday 28 May 2013.

In May, Killar signed a binding MOU to acquire an 80% equity interest in PT Borneo Emas Hitam (BEH), an established coal producer that sells its entire output to an internationally recognised buyer.

Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX “Small and Mid-cap” stocks with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China.

Leyshon Resources expects flow results next week

Thu, 23 May 2013 23:58:00 +1000

Leyshon Resources (LON:LRL) expects initial results from flow tests of the ZJS5 and ZJS6 wells at its Zijinshan gas project in China next week.

Both the wells are part of an initial programme to explore and test the potential for commercial gas production at the project,

The wells are situated in a highly prospective and unexplored 380 square kilometre central depression area that appears to demonstrate good continuity with the neighbouring Sanjiaobei discovery, Leyshon said.

The energy group is spending US$20mln on an accelerated exploration and appraisal programme at Zijinshan, which is located on the eastern fringe of the Ordos gas basin in Central China.

Indus Coal spins six rigs at Indonesian thermal coal project

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:20:00 +1000

Indus Coal (ASX: ICZ) has kicked off a 9100 metre Exploration HQ core drilling program on Block 9 of the Jambi Coal Projects, which is located in the Central Tebo District, Tebo Regency Jambi Provence of Eastern Sumatra, Indonesia.

The area is a known coal producing region with a recognised export thermal grade coal product sought after by Indian and Chinese power producers, with Indus aiming to monetise Jambi and the MukoMuko Coal Project over the next 12 months, with a plan to add scale through acquisitions.

Indus will have six rigs drilling the aggressive program at Block 9, with initial drilling having intersected good thicknesses of Coal Seam A at about a vertical depth of 35 to 40 metres and about 400m down dip from outcrop.

An additional four coal seams below Coal Seam B have been discovered which substantially increases the volume of coal on the Block 9 concession.

The company has conducted all its mining studies on a coal to waste ratio of 1:6, with economic studies on a coal removal cost of US$1.30 per MT of coal and a waste removal cost of US$1.80 per cubic metre.

Indus had around $1.4 million in cash at the end of March 2013.

Modun Resources sees significant upgrade in Nuurst coal quality in Mongolia

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:40:00 +1000

Modun Resources (ASX: MOU) has found that coal briquettes created from coal from its Nuurst coal in Mongolia could be upgraded to the benchmark Newcastle thermal coal energy level.

The testwork saw an increase in calorific value achieved to 5,648 kcal/kg from a 4,178 kcal/kg for the raw coal sample.

The improvements in coal quality were achieved via a cost effective beneficiation process, the improvements ensure a far more efficient burning coal.

Mongolian government

Modun is also in discussions with the Mongolian Government to develop a low cost, high energy and low emission coal to help improve the air quality in Ulaanbaatar.

Modun has also had several discussions with the Mineral Resources Authority of Mongolia over the last few weeks as part of the approval process for the mining licence which Modun expects to receive afer the completion of the administrative process.

The Nuurst thermal coal Project is located in central Mongolia on a 34.5 square kilometre licence area. In November 2012, Modun announced a 478 million tonne JORC reported Coal Resource at Nuurst. It is located 120 kilometres south of Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar and just six kilometres from existing rail infrastructure which links directly into China.

Leyshon Resources expects results from Chinese coal seam gas wells next week

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:40:00 +1000

Leyshon Resources (ASX: LRL) is continuing flow testing of two coal seam gas wells in the Ordos Basin, China, with initial results expected next week.

The ZJS5 and ZJS6 wells are part of an initial program designed to explore and test the potential for commercial gas production in a highly prospective and unexplored 380 square kilometre central depression area.

This area appears to demonstrate good continuity with the neighbouring Sanjiaobei discovery operated by fellow Australian Sino Gas & Energy (ASX: SEH).

The testing is part of the previously announced US$20 million accelerated exploration and appraisal program on the Zijinshan Gas Project, located on the eastern fringe of the prolific Ordos Gas Basin in Central China.

ZJS5 and ZJS6 are located within 10 kilometres of a tie-in point on the recently commissioned Lin-Lin pipeline which supplies the growing demand in Shanxi Province.

Discussions with potential off-take partners suggest that there continues to be a shortage of locally sourced gas to feed the pipeline and as a result prices are continuing to rise.

Locally based major industrial users are reportedly paying around U$ 12 per thousand standard cubic feet of gas.

Cokal signs agreement for river barging coal in Indonesia

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:40:00 +1000

Central Kalimantan focused Cokal (ASX: CKA) has signed an agreement to river barge coal from its BBM coking coal Project in the metallurgical Upper Barito Coal Basin, adjacent to the BHP Billiton’s coal project.

The BBM project has a JORC Resource of 77 Million tonnes in multiple seams comprised of 70 million tonnes of Inferred and 7 million tonnes of Indicated as well as an Exploration Target of 200 to 350 million tonnes.

The Project covers an area of 15,000 hectares. The Project is adjacent to the BHP Billiton’s, Indomet Coal, Joloi Project in Murung Raya Regency.

Cokal is completing definitive studies and obtaining the necessary approvals with the aim of commencing construction in October 2013 which would see first production occur in the first half of 2014.

The joint venture that will own and manage the shallow river barges and tugs design specifically for PT Bumi Barito Mineral (BBM) is with Meratus Advance Maritime.

Meratus Maritime is part of the Meratus Group which has operated in Indonesian shipping since 1957 and has provided barging and shipping services to a number of the major Kalimantan coal operations.

MDM have also worked on the Barito River over a number of years. The Barito is a major coal barging river on which BBM is located.

The JV is an accumulation of almost 2 years of studies into river based shallow draft barging systems which have confirmed its effectiveness on the Barito River.

While shallow draft barging systems are used extensively worldwide the system has not been used in Indonesia to date.

Ikwezi Mining upgrades Ntendeka Colliery resources by over 33%

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:07:00 +1000

A JORC compliant resource upgrade to 294 million tonnes at the Ntendeka Colliery in South Africa will potentially add to Ikwezi Mining's value upside as it is on the threshold of becoming a coal producer in the September quarter of this year.

Lemur Resources adds Bushveld Minerals as a substantial shareholder

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:20:00 +1000

Lemur Resources’ (ASX: LMR) bidder AIM-listed Bushveld Minerals (AIM:BMN) has registered its substantial shareholding of 2.7% in the company.

Bushveld, which is making an off-market takeover bid of three shares for every five Lemur shares, currently owns 5.15 million Lemur shares.

The takeover big had valued Lemur at A$19.10 million, based on Bushveld's closing price of £0.109 per share on 9 May 2013, representing a premium of 65.5%.

Bushveld is a mineral development company focused on exploring and developing mineral projects on the Bushveld Complex in South Africa, and its primary projects are the Bushveld iron ore project and Mokopane tin project.

It believes that a successful bid could create a diversified African junior miner with a swathe of mineral assets spread across South Africa and Madagascar.

Bushveld has been advised that certain Lemur shareholders, representing 42% of the issued capital, intend to accept the offer within five business days after commencement of the offer period in the absence of a superior proposal being publicly announced before the end of that period.

Lemur has advised shareholders to take no action until a formal recommendation is made.

East Energy Resources makes first drawdown on Noble Group loan facility

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:40:00 +1000

East Energy Resources (ASX: EER) has made the first drawing on the new loan facility provided by Noble Group.

Under the facility, Noble is providing East Energy $13.48 million to repay its debt to Idalia Coal and for Idalia to repay its loan to Noble, Asia’s largest diversified commodities trading company.

This leaves East Energy with about $5 million to draw down for working capital purposes.

“It is great to have the Idalia transactions completed and to have access to this facility to enable the further development of our Blackall project and now our new Idalia tenements as well,” East Energy managing director Mark Basso said.

“We are currently finalising our exploration plans going forward, now that we have several more tenements to consider. It is a very exciting time for East Energy.”

The working capital available to be drawn from the facility will enable the company to maintain its exploration program at the Blackall Coal Project in Queensland.

Facility terms

Interest on the facility may be capitalised for the term of the facility, at the discretion of East Energy.

The applicable interest rate is the 6-month bank bill swap rate plus a margin of 7.0%.

East Energy has provided security for this facility with a personal property security over the Company’s assets and a mortgage over the tenements held by East Energy and Idalia.

Funding will be provided on a staggered basis.

Repayment of the facility can be made at any time and without restriction within the five year term, with a six month extension available to East Energy.

East Energy Resources substantial shareholder increases stake

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:00:00 +1000

East Energy Resources (ASX: EER) substantial shareholder Majicyl Pty Ltd has increased its stake in the company to 45.87% from 41.24%.

This follows the issue of 94,825,781 shares to Majicyl as consideration for the purchase of Idalia Coal, bringing Majicyl total shareholding to 163,526,982.

Majicyl is associated with East Energy managing director Mark Basso-Brusa.

The acquisition of Idalia had added its 440 million tonne Inferred Resource and drill identified exploration target of between 4 billion and 4.5 billion tonnes in Queensland to East Energy’s existing 1.74 billion tonne Resource.

Idalia’s EPC 1398, EPC 1399, and EPC 1400 are all located adjacent to East Energy’s tenements, which together provide the foundation for the development of rail and port infrastructure, able to support a large scale mining operation in western Queensland.

Atlantic Coal ends talks over mining assets

Tue, 14 May 2013 22:53:00 +1000

AIM-listed coal miner Atlantic Coal (LON:ATC) has turned down the chance to pick up more anthracite assets in Pennsylvania after ending talks with a potential seller.

The company revealed at the start of April it was in negotiations to extend the deadline on its option agreement, but now reckons the assets are not worth the US$35mln exercise price.

A statement from Atlantic read: “Following these discussions, it was determined by the Atlantic Coal board of directors that an agreement on principal terms could not be achieved that would be acceptable to the company and in the best interests of the company's shareholders.”

Atlantic also revealed it is speeding up its US$9mln deal to take control of the Pott & Bannon coal mine in Pennsylvania.

Managing director Steve Best has described the deal as “potentially transformational” in the past. He believes the addition of the property, which is just 25 miles from the firm’s Stockton colliery, could treble the company’s existing reserves.

Lemur Resources adds new substantial shareholder

Tue, 14 May 2013 08:30:00 +1000

Lemur Resources (ASX: LMR) has added a new substantial shareholder as it considers the all scrip takeover offer from AIM-listed Bushveld Minerals (AIM:BMN).

Oak Nominees, acting for Oak Trust and its associates, holds 21.25 million shares, or 11.04% in the company.

Separately, The Orange Trust has increased its stake in the company to 19,214,447 shares, or 9.98%, from 10,500,000 shares.

Bushveld is offering three of its own shares for every five Lemur shares, valuing Lemur at A$0.099 per share, or about $19.1 million.

Certain Lemur shareholders, representing 42% of the issued capital, have already indicated their conditional acceptance in the absence of a superior offer.

Bushveld believes that a successful bid could create a diversified African junior miner with a swathe of mineral assets spread across South Africa and Madagascar.

Churchill Mining shares rocket after updates on arbitration latest

Tue, 14 May 2013 00:20:00 +1000

Churchill Mining (LON:CHL) shares rocketed as it revealed that, along with Australian subsidiary Planet Mining, it has filed further material with the arbitration tribunal concerning its claim against the Republic of Indonesia.

As reported in March, the Churchill and Planet arbitrations have now been consolidated into a single proceeding and will be dealt with and heard together at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington.

They are seeking compensation from the Republic of Indonesia (ROI) after the expropriation of the firm's rights over the huge East Kutai coal mine in Indonesia.

Planet, via its 5% stake in PT Indonesia Coal Development, also holds an interest in the project.

Churchill/Planet currently quantify their losses and seek damages of US$ 1,054 million, excluding interest, based on industry analysis, Churchill said today.

Key elements of the latest supplementing memorial and export evidence include that: Indonesia initially supported and encouraged Churchill/Planet to invest.

Also, that after Churchill/Planet's discovery of substantial coal deposits, the Republic took a series of unlawful actions that resulted in the destruction of Churchill/Planet's valuable investment; the actions of the ROI constitute blatant violations of the obligations it has undertaken under its Bilateral Investment Treaties with the UK and Australia.

The next key hearing will be one in Singapore beginning May 13 that will deal with the challenge from the Republic that the arbitration tribunal does not actually have jurisdiction to hear the group's claim for compensation.

Shares in Churchill rocketed over 45% today to stand at 45p.

Since Australian international litigation veteran Nicholas Smith was appointed as new managing director at Churchill last September, shares in the firm have almost tripled in value.

Lemur Resources in takeover offer from Bushveld Minerals

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:02:00 +1000

The all-scrip takeover offer for Lemur Resources by AIM-listed Bushveld Minerals, at $0.099 values the company at around $19.10 million, and offers a considerable premium of 65.5%.

Lemur Resources has 'potential change in control transaction'

Fri, 10 May 2013 10:40:00 +1000

Lemur Resources (ASX: LMR) has been granted a trading halt this morning by the ASX, with its shares placed in pre-open, pending in relation to an approach regarding a potential change in control transaction.

Recently Lemur finalised the exploration program at its 99% owned Imaloto Coal Project and Extension, which is located in Madagascar.

The project has a JORC Coal Resource of 135.7 million Gross Tonnes in Situ, of which 68% is in the high confidence Measured category. In total Measured and Indicated is 91%.

The halt will last until the earlier of an announcement being made to the market, or the opening of trade on Tuesday 14th May 2013.

Killara Resources to become a coal producer with Indonesian acquisition

Thu, 09 May 2013 11:20:00 +1000

Killara Resources (ASX:KRA) has emerged from a trading halt to acquire an 80% equity interest in a coal producer in Indonesia.

A MOU has been signed to acquire PT Borneo Emas Hitam (BEH) which currently sells its entire production of coal to an international buyer.

The deal, if consumated would position Killara to become cash flow positive and be operating its own mining activities within three months.

The deal may have resulted from major shareholder the Zulkarnaen family's contacts in Indonesia.

Killara will pay, pending due diligence, a minimum of US$2.2 million for an 80% equity interest in BEH and its wholly-owned mining concession, which is located in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

The transaction adeptly moves Killara from an explorer to a producer and represents a transforming transaction for the company.

Should an independent technical assessment of the concession by Killara establish a mineable coal deposit of greater than 733,333 tonnes, the company will pay $3.00 for each additional tonne.

This transaction underscores the board’s strategy of establishing an Indonesian coal focused business and, more importantly, illustrates the benefits of partnering with major shareholder the Zulkarnaen family to yield immediate strategic benefits to Killara.

Analysis

Althought early days and with limited details, the deal is value accretive for Killara shareholders and moving to cash flow positive is a significant milestone in such a short time-frame.

Pan Asia Corporation director acquires shares on market

Tue, 07 May 2013 16:40:00 +1000

Pan Asia Corporation (ASX:PZC) non-executive director Mitch Jakeman has acquired 250,000 shares in the company in on market trade.

Jakeman paid $10,000 for the shares, or an average consideration of $0.04 each. He now holds 6.75 million shares in the company.

Noble Group (SGX:N21), Asia’s largest diversified commodities trading company, had recently acquired a 5.34% stake in the company as part of a deepening in ties between the two companies.

Noble has a strong understanding of and presence in the Indonesian coal industry and can provide Pan Asia with invaluable support in delivering the TCM coal project in Indonesia.

It was also appointed a strategic advisor to PT Transcoal Minergy (PT TCM), a 75% owned subsidiary of Pan Asia that is developing the High CV Thermal coal project in South Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Operational work for the project has also being progressed.

This includes completion of wet season environmental, social and health baseline surveys, the start of detailed land ownership mapping as well as assessment of other possible areas for mine mouth and surface infrastructure in addition to those already identified.

Killara Resources to reveal acquisition

Tue, 07 May 2013 10:10:00 +1000

Killara Resources (ASX: KRA) has some acquisition news on the horizon, with the ASX granting the company a trading halt this morning - with its shares placed in pre-open.

Killara currently has a licence under evaluation in Southern Sumatra, being the Bengkulu coal project, with others under consideration.

The halt will last until the earlier of an announcement being made to the market, or the opening of trade on Thursday 9th May 2013.

Killara had $1.4 million in cash at the end of March 2013, but also recently launched a 1:2 pro rata non-renounceable rights offer at $0.05 each to raise up to $2 million.

Strategic Natural Resources seeking strategic investor

Fri, 03 May 2013 23:46:00 +1000

Strategic Natural Resources (LON:SNRP) is seeking a strategic investor or partner to help it develop its operations at Elitheni in the Eastern Cape.

The decision came after the company was approached by a number of interested parties, including some international coal companies.

The company has held preliminary discussions with these parties, prompting the company to go public with the decision to seek a partner.

At the moment, the directors of Strategic Natural (SNR) envisage that any outside investment in Elitheni will either take the form of a party subscribing for new shares in SNR, or a direct investment in the subsidiary share capital of Eltitheni, either through a subscription for new Elitheni shares or a sale of part of SNR’s existing shareholding.

As well as giving the usual caveats about there being no guarantee that an investment will be forthcoming, SNR stressed that it does not envisage any outside investor taking a stake of more than 29.99%, which would trigger a mandatory takeover offer for the company. Neither does it intend to reduce its holding in Elitheni below 51.0%.

The SNR board are targeting end-June for completion of the outside investment and are currently preparing appropriate documents to enable interested parties to do their due diligence.

In the meantime, the company has drawn down a further £1mln under its loan facility with Land Consultants Limited (LCL), taking the amount it has drawn down under this facility to £4.5mln. The company also intends to draw down a further £1.5mln in the next two weeks.

As a condition of the draw-downs, the terms of the LCL facility have now been amended, such that all sums drawn down so far will be secured against 8% of the issued share capital of Elitheni. Furthermore, the imminent £1.5mln draw down will be secured against the company’s wash plant and coal stocks.

SNR said the ceiling on the draw down facility has been lowered to £6.38mln from £10mln. The entire loan, including accrued interest, must now be paid back by 30 July 2013, which will bring to an end the LCL facility.

SNR envisages that the loan repayment will be refunded by funds from the strategic investor.

The company acknowledged that money is tight, due to delays in commencing deliveries of coal from Elitheni, but the prospect of outside investment in the company gives the board confidence it will be able to meet its bills in the short and medium term.

"We have made considerable operational changes over the last couple of months and we are busy implementing the recommendations that have come out of the review that I instigated when taking up the position of CEO a couple of months ago. This has delayed our shipment dates and will continue to affect full production level for a few more months; however, the process will ultimately deliver a well-run business with many future shareholder benefits,” said Gabriel Ruhan, SNR's chief executive.

“We continue to focus on commencing our export deliveries of coal as soon as possible. We recognise that the LCL facility needs to be replaced by more appropriate funding for Elitheni and, based on our recent discussions with potential strategic investors, we believe we will soon have the right funding in place for us to deliver on the value which the Elitheni mine offers," Ruhan added.

Leyshon Resources and partner agree to extend exploration period on China project

Fri, 03 May 2013 23:39:00 +1000

Leyshon Resources (LON:LRL, ASX:LRL) has agreed with its partner on China’s Zijinshan project to extend the exploration period on their production sharing contract (PSC) out to 2017.

The PSC itself is valid for 30 years and expires in 2038.

Its subsidiary, Pacific Asia Petroleum Limited, met all the requirements for the extension and an application was submitted well ahead of the required date, Leyshon said.

“The preparation for the extension commenced late last year and is expected to take several months to complete,” the group said in a short stock exchange announcement.

“An announcement will be made once the process has completed.

“It is common for extension applications, once agreed between the PSC partners, to extend beyond the date of expiry whilst the various regulatory approvals are achieved and for exploration activities to continue as normal during this period.”

With around US$45mln of cash in the bank the group is planning to carry out an accelerated drill programme on its unconventional gas asset assets in the People’s Republic.

It is currently preparing to test well ZJS6, on the eastern fringe of the prolific Ordos gas basin in Central China.

Atrum Coal secures option to acquire two coking coal projects in Canada

Fri, 03 May 2013 11:10:00 +1000

Atrum Coal (ASX:ATU) has secured option to acquire 100% of the Adams project and the White Rabbit project in the coking coal rich Peace River region of British Columbia.

The Adams project includes 1 coal licence application and covers 8,315 hectares while the White Rabbit project has 7 coal licence applications and totals 12,561 hectares.

Both projects are situated close to key infrastructure and are contiguous with the Gething Mine, a proposed 3 million tonnes per annum coking coal mine partnership with Shougang Group, China's largest steel producer.

Other coal developers in the Peace River region include Xstrata Coal, Posco, Teck Resources and Anglo American, among others.

The key terms of the deal a cash payment of C$50,000 to secure a 60 day option and once the option is exercised, Atrum is required to pay C$200,000 cash; issue 450,000 fully paid ordinary shares in Atrum and pay C$150,000 cash for reimbursement of historical rental expenditure.

Atrum will also pay the vendor a fixed royalty of C$0.80 per tonne on coal produced from the two tenements and within 24 months of opting for the acquisition, and subject to grant of licence, it will conduct an exploration program on each of the tenements.

The commitment includes drilling atleast 5 holes on each project.

Atrum is gearing up for its 2013 drilling program at its flagship 1.57 billion tonnes Groundhog anthracite project, which is likely to start in early June.

It also remains fully funded for its mining activities for this year with a cash balance of $12.01 million at the end of the March 2013 quarter.

Atlantic Coal further extends loan deals

Thu, 02 May 2013 22:24:00 +1000

Coal miner Atlantic Coal (LON:ATC) has agreed two further extensions to its existing loan deals.

Atlantic’s subsidiary Coal Contractors has had loans from chief executive officer (CEO) Steve Best’s wife and Willoughby, a company controlled by Mrs Best, in place since October 2007.

As announced in January this year, the loans were extended until yesterday (April 30), but Coal Contractors, Mrs MC Best and Willoughby have now agreed extensions, the firm said.

"Under these agreements the repayment terms of the loans have been varied so that these are to be repaid in 48 monthly instalments commencing on 15 May 2013," the company said.

The parties also agreed that no principal is to be repaid for the first five months, although interest will still be paid, with the sums otherwise due being repaid in months six, seven and eight.

As at April 30, the total outstanding on the loan from Mrs MC Best was US$1,838,320.31 and the total outstanding on the loan from Willoughby was US$776,532.50.

Interest on the loans has been accruing at 15% per annum since January 1, 2013.

Leyshon Resources, China National Petroleum extend exploration time at China gas project

Thu, 02 May 2013 10:20:00 +1000

Leyshon Resources (ASX:LRL) has reached an agreement with China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) to extend the exploration period at the Zijinshan production sharing contract at the Ordos Basin in Central China to the end of 2017.

The PSC is valid for 30 years and expires in 2038.

Leyshon, through its wholly owned subsidiary Pacific Asia Petroleum has embarked upon a $20 million accelerated exploration and appraisal program for the gas project, where Leyshon has a 100% interest in the exploration phase of the PSC.

CNPC has the right to back in to a 40% interest at the development stage.

The main objective of the 2013 work program, started ahead of schedule, is to define a resource sufficient to delineate a third party independent resource by the end of this year and to submit a Chinese Reserve Report by middle of next year.

The work program includes drilling up to six wells, conducting eight flow tests and acquiring 300 kilometres of 2D seismic data.

While three wells have been committed, the other three are subject to results from the first three wells and PSC partner agreement.

While the exploration extension application and other regulatory approvals are pending, exploration activities will continue as normal.

Leyshon had a cash balance of $45.77 million at the end of March 2013 quarter, giving its shares a cash backing of $0.183 a share against its current share price of $0.21.

Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX “Small and Mid-cap” stocks with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China.

Ikwezi Mining on the road to coal production in South Africa

Wed, 01 May 2013 14:55:00 +1000

With a strong domestic coal market, Ikwezi is confident that it has its fundamental structures in place to bring the Ntendeka Colliery in South Africa into production in the September quarter of 2013. An offtake agreement is already in place with Vitol.

Cokal Limited on the road to coking coal production in Indonesia

Wed, 01 May 2013 13:40:00 +1000

Cokal (ASX: CKA) has been granted a production mining lease for its 60%-owned Bumi Barito Mineral (BBM) Project in Indonesia placing the company firmly on track to begin construction before the end of the year.

The company is targeting the start of production in the first half of CY2014 and receipt of the production mining lease completes the mining approvals required for BBM production.

The production mining lease covers 15,000 hectares – the maximum coal lease area allowable, and the full development of the Eastern Block of BBM to 6 million tonnes per annum.

The lease, which has an initial period of 20 years with two 10 year extensions permitted, also allows for exploration on the remaining area.

All protected and moratorium forest areas are excluded from the production mining lease area, with Cokal now focused on upgrading the forestry exploration permit to a production permit.

This is scheduled to be completed by the end of the September quarter and is the final major approval required to begin construction of the project.

Cokal plans to barge coal down the Barito River and to deliver a premium coking coal to the nearby Asian steel markets.

Coking coal from the BBM Project is expected to be a low ash, low sulphur, ultra-low phosphorus product with a coking swell index of 9.

These attributes make this product a well sought after commodity in Asian steelworks, which need this coal to blend down the high impurities of other coking coal supplies.

Cokal will develop the project in two stages, starting with an initial 2 million tonne per annum direct ship operation, expanding up to 6 million tonnes per annum at a later stage.

The Pre-Feasibility Study has highlighted the potential of BBM to be developed as a low capital cost, low operating cost metallurgical coal project.

Work is currently underway on a number of key final feasibility areas for the project which are expected to be completed by the end of the September quarter.

Project funding

Cokal has identified a number of financing options for stage one including debt financing, pre-sale of product type agreements and the sale of a portion of the project to an industry partner.

The company’s preferred funding mechanism is direct investment and offtake funding direct into the BBM Project.

BBM Project

The BBM Project lies adjacent to BHP Billiton’s (ASX: BHP) Indomet Coal Juloi Project in the Regency of Murung Raya.

The project is situated in the prospective metallurgical Upper Barito Coal Basin and hosts a Resource of 77 million tonnes in four seams, comprising 70 million tonnes in the Inferred category and 7 million tonnes in the higher confidence Indicated category.

Cokal has also outline an exploration target of 200 to 350 million tonnes in 13 seams within the Eastern Block, which makes up about 40% of the BBM Project area.

The company is well-funded with around A$11.3 million in cash at the end of March 2013.

Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX “Small and Mid-cap” stocks with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China.

Coalbank Limited receives offer from Hong Kong based Loyal Strategic Investment

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:40:00 +1000

Coalbank Limited (ASX: CBQ) will exit a trading halt this morning following an announcement that it has entered into a binding Scheme Implementation Agreement with Hong Kong-based company, Loyal Strategic Investment Ltd., in relation to a whole-of-company transaction.

The agreement is for the acquisition of 100% of the company's shares at A$0.0175, which is close to a 60% premium based on Coalbank's last traded price before the halt of A$0.011.

Coalbank has a strategy of to invest in and develop early stage upstream energy projects, with the company holding significant coal exploration permit areas in Queensland.

The board of Coalbank is supporting the buy-out, with Executive Deputy-Chairman and major shareholder (49%), Greg Baynton, having advised that he will support the proposed Scheme.

The Loyal Strategic control transaction follows previous announcements made by Coalbank in relation to its discussions with various international parties about potential strategic investments or a whole-of-company transaction.

Conditions and Due Diligence

The arrangement is subject to conditions which must be satisfied or waived in order for the Scheme to proceed, which includes Loyal Strategic having a three month due diligence and finance period

The Scheme is also subject to Coalbank shareholder approval and other regulatory approvals.

The acquisition is not expected to require the approval of The Foreign Investment Review Board if undertaken by Loyal Strategic (and not a nominee) as Loyal Strategic is a private company and the total consideration does not meet the relevant monetary threshold to be subject to FIRB approval.

Coalbank Limited to reveal 'change of control' of the company

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:40:00 +1000

Coalbank Limited (ASX: CBQ) is in pre-open this morning after the ASX granted a halt, allowing the company time to announce the outcome of negotiations surrounding a 'corporate transaction involving a change of control of the company.'

Coalbank currently has the strategy of investing in and developing early stage upstream energy projects, with the company also holding two copper-gold projects via its wholly owned subsidiary Harvest Metals Pty Limited.

The company has previously indicated that it would consider an IPO of Sierra Oil Limited in 2013, with Coalbank's potentially having a value of up to $1 million, based on the targeted IPO valuation.

The halt will last until the earlier of an announcement being made to the market, or the opening of trade on Monday 29th April 2013.

Coalbank had $1 million in cash at the end of December 2012.

Linc Energy to flow test Alaskan oil well

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:20:00 +1000

Linc Energy (ASX: LNC) is preparing to flow test its Umiat-18 well in Alaska after flowing oil to surface.

Umiat, located on the Alaskan North Slope, has been estimated by Ryder Scott to contain 154.5 million barrels of oil equivalent in proved and probable reserves.

Umiat-18 had intersected 100 feet of net oil pay in the Lower Grandstand Formation. It also recovered 300 feet of core through the Lower Grandstand Formation.

This also carried an NPV10 of US$1.5 billion (A$1.47 billion).

Linc expects peak production during full field development to be about 50,000 barrels per day.

A total of 12 legacy wells were drilled within the field between 1944 and 1979.

Early testing of vertical wells achieved flow rates up to 400 barrels of oil per day.

At the end of the December quarter, Linc had a cash balance of $37.75 million and access to an undrawn credit facility of US$50 million that could be drawn for use in its US Oil and Gas business.

It has also raised US$200 million through a convertible bond issue.

Bathurst Resources’ shares step on the gas

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:50:00 +1000

Bathurst Resources (ASX: BTU) witnessed a 13.5% increase in its share price today, with an intra-day high of $0.21 – compared to yesterday’s close of $0.185.

By the closing bell, around 2.7 million shares had changed hands.

The increase in share price follows today’s news of the lodgement of a timetable for the Environment Court of New Zealand in relation to the company’s Escarpment mine on the Denniston Plateau, near Westport.

The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand recently appealed the court’s decision that consents are likely to be granted provided details of certain conditions are worked out.

The main conditions the court seeks more work on relate to ensuring that as much as possible of the present vegetation is re-established, and mechanisms to ensure permanent protection of 745 hectares of land on the Plateau outside the Escarpment mine.

Bathurst’s subsidiary Buller Coal has agreed with counsel for Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand that it will provide revised conditions by 29 April 2013.

Earlier this month, Bathurst revealed plans to redomicile to New Zealand to better position the company to realise its strategic goals, which include becoming one of the nation’s largest coal producers.

The company produced over 200,000 tonnes of coal last year, and is in the final stages of consenting for its Escarpment mine.

Escarpment will produce 1 million tonnes of hard coking coal a year and create 225 new direct jobs.

The Escarpment project alone is estimated to inject about $1 billion into the New Zealand economy over six years and provide $45 million in royalties and taxes a year.

Bathurst held around A$35.5 million in cash at the end of December 2012.

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