www.conticoal.com
Continental Coal Ltd (ASX:CCC) is a South African coal exploration and development company with current JORC resources of over 300Mt. Continental holds interests in a number of early stage and advanced stage exploration assets in various established South African Coal mining regions.
CCC was formed to take advantage of the robust domestic and global demand for coal, with particular focus on South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
Continental Coal JV with South Korea to fast track Vlakplaats Coal Project
To fast track the Vlakplaats Coal Project in South Africa, a joint venture between the state owned Korea Resources Corporation (KORES) and the Continental Coal (ASX: CCC) subsidiary Continental Coal (CCL) has been executed.
The agreement with KORES is part of Continental’s strategy to target top-tier projects, de-risk them with project execution and define a clear pathway towards production.
Under the terms of the agreement, the parties have established a special purpose vehicle, with KORES and Continental's BEE partner's acquisition of a 37% and 13% respective project interest for ZAR96.2m (A$13.5m) and ZAR33.8m (A$5m).
Continental and KORES have committed to an initial ZAR32.5m (A$4.5m) to fully fund the project to a bankable feasibility stage.
Continental has been appointed as project manager and operator of the Vlakplaats Coal Project and will receive a 2% management fee, and is further required to maintain a minimum 30% interest in the project.
Continental has now successfully completed the acquisition of Vlakplaats following execution of documentation for payment of the ZAR130m (A$18.5m) balance of the ZAR180m (A$26m) total acquisition cost for the Vlakplaats Coal Project.
Settlement of the acquisition is scheduled to take place within the next 25 days.
South Korea imports almost 97% of its energy and mineral resources, therefore the development of stable long-term supplies is a key strategy for the nation’s economic development.
In Australia KORES has through participating in several investment consortium acquired interests in a number of advanced and producing coal projects such as the recent A$580m acquisition of five Australian coal projects from Anglo American PLC with Korea Electric Power Corp in July 2010 and the A$136m acquisition with Daewoo International Corporation of a 7.5% interest in ASX listed Whitehaven Coal’s Narrabri Coal Mine.
