Galilee Energy Ltd

Bathurst Resources has not been marooned by the hold-up of appeals against the consents approval for its Escarpment coal mine because the company has already made a maiden export shipment and is gearing up production from an existing mine and is forging ahead with development of already consented deposits.

Some doubters at last year’s AusIMM NZ Minerals Conference may be transformed into believers at next month’s conference in Queenstown when Bathurst Resources’ chief executive Hamish Bohannan again takes to the podium.

Expansion of coal mining in the Nightcaps region that was originally planned by Galilee Energy has been progressed to the approvals stage by new owner Bathurst Resources Ltd.

The current financial year will prove to be a purple patch for Galilee Energy and all because of the sale of its New Zealand coal assets to Bathurst Resources.

The concept of shipping a substantial amount of the first coal from the new Escarpment coal project in the Buller coalfield through Westport to New Plymouth for loading into larger ships for export is now a very firm plan.

The March quarter report of Bathurst Resources shows it has been busy on several fronts and to meet its target of getting the Escarpment block into production by year end it will need to see some smooth passages in the consents and processing of red tape.

The physical side of developing the Escarpment opencast coal project on the Denniston Plateau took a major step forward with the awarding of the construction contract for the coal processing plant.

Bathurst has now dotted the “I’s” and crossed the “T’s” to now be a fully fledged coal miner in New Zealand through the assets purchased from Galilee Energy.

The extent of capital raisings and capital outlays by Bathurst Resources in the December half are well detailed in the company’s just-released financial results.

The bottom line for Galilee Energy improved in the December quarter and the income derived from coal operations in New Zealand in that period would have been a boost. The bottom line in the first half of this year will look better with the cash coming in from sale of the NZ assets.