ashford coking coal area

Been doing a bit of research on the Ashford Coking Coal area and have found the following (this may be all over the place).

Taken from an NEC target statement (NEC takeover offer by Hope Coal) received upon enquiring:

3.3.4 Ashford
The Ashford project, a JV with Renison Consolidated Mines NL (Renison), is located 10 km north of the township of
Ashford in northern NSW and consists of Exploration License (EL) 6234, EL 6428 and EL 6526. The Ashford resource
consists of a hard coking coal with low ash and sulphur content.
Ashford does not yet have arrangements in place for transport of coal to port or port capacity, however the Federal
Government has decided on the preferred route for a proposed inland railway, which will run to the west of Ashford.
This proposed inland railway will bring heavy haul rail capacity closer to the Ashford project.
The JV partners continue to monitor potential transport infrastructure development in the area.


Development % Low Value High Value Most Likely value
Ashford 50% 13.0 17.0 15.0

(valued in Millions of dollars)


Obviously RSN being the other half holder in Ashford is worth around $15 million then.

The problem with selling this to follow up the gold prospects is the infrastructure.

There was a report from the ARRG (Australia Rural Road Group) at the beginning of this year that said the Federal Government wanted the JV to contribute $150 million to improve the roads in the area for truck usage, and that the expected tonnage would have to be between 0.5 million and 1 million tonne per year.

And having spoken to NEC's acting CEO Shane Stephan he confirmed that:
"The key issue in regards to the economic viability of the Ashford Prospect is the relatively limited reserve tonnage in comparison to the capital required for transport infrastructure."

So the we have resource estimates of 18 mt total (both RSN/NEC).
Current top quality coking coal prices at roughly $275-$300/t.

Say it takes $200/t to get out of the open pit mine, so $100/t profit.

With a mine life of roughly 10 years, so 1.8 tonne a year?

$100 x 18 mt = $1.8 billion over the life of the mine.

$1.8 billion/10 years = $180 million a year

Or $90 million a year profit each to RSN and NEC.

They just need to get the infrastructure in place and really, this is a great money spinner.
Obviously these are all my own estimates, and as always DYOR