Posted on 09 Apr 2024
Australian miner Stanmore Resources has inked a deal to acquire the remaining 50% interest in the Eagle Downs metallurgical coal project in Queensland and 100% interest in the Eagle Downs South tenements, Kallanish notes.
The firm says in a statement that it has entered into definitive binding agreements with miner Aquila for the deal. This would result in Stanmore’s 100% ownership of both projects.
Stanmore will pay $15 million for the Eagle Downs stake and $2m for Eagle Downs South. An additional $20m and $10m will be paid upon the first 100,000 tonnes of coal being mined. For Eagle Downs, a capped royalty of up to approximately $150m is payable in the future linked to average coal index price thresholds.
Stanmore will fund the upfront considerations with existing liquidity. The acquisition results in the assets becoming part of Stanmore’s consolidated group and will add additional resources to Stanmore’s portfolio of high quality, metallurgical coal assets.
The transaction will allow Stanmore full ownership and control over the assets and streamline the process to a development decision. The company will now continue the evaluation of the assets with a final optimisation study undertaken on a 100% ownership basis. This includes the potential to reduce the overall development costs for Eagle Downs by leveraging Stanmore’s existing Poitrel and/or Isaac Plains infrastructure and rail and port portfolio.
In February, Stanmore entered into agreements with a wholly owned subsidiary of South32 to acquire its 50% interest in Eagle Downs and 100% interest in Eagle Downs Coal Management. At the time, Stanmore was in discussions with Aquila to acquire part of Aquila’s interest in Eagle Downs and Eagle Downs South.
“In acquiring 100% of the Eagle Downs assets Stanmore has full control over the development plan and is able to streamline management and fully leverage its strong technical capabilities, as well as unique infrastructure and logistics portfolio to unlock the value of the asset to its full extent. Stanmore will seek to optimise the development plan and take a capital efficient approach to any future development decision," Stanmore chief executive officer and executive director Marcelo Matos says.
The Eagle Downs metallurgical coal project area contains a JORC resource of 1,143 million tonnes, of which 759mt are classified as measured and a further 201mt are classified as indicated. Eagle Downs South has a resource base of 427 million tonnes.
Source:Kallanish
