A significant new coalmine is planned for Buller, although it has yet to receive resource consent.Perth-based coal developer Bathurst Resources has announced it plans to begin an export coking and thermal opencast mine late next year in a joint venture wi
A significant new coalmine is planned for Buller, although it has yet to receive resource consent.
Perth-based coal developer Bathurst Resources has announced it plans to begin an export coking and thermal opencast mine late next year in a joint venture with Christchurch-based energy explorer L&M.
Bathurst initially planned to mine from the Denniston escarpment, north of Westport, and later mine up to 90 million tonnes within its Buller coal resource.
The Denniston area had an exploration target of between 17 and 23 million tonnes of coal.
Bathurst has said its initial production target was one million tonnes a year, increasing to two million tonnes a year - more than the current annual production at Solid Energy's Stockton opencast mine.
Bathurst aimed to rail coal to Westport then ship it to New Plymouth for export.
L&M's Greg Hogan was unable to estimate how many jobs the mine would create. Stockton mine employs more than 700.
L&M agreed to sell its subsidiary L&M Coal to Bathurst but would retain a 5% percent share.
Bathurst intended to list on the New Zealand stock exchange by the end of the year.
L&M was concentrating on other projects and believed that Bathurst was better placed to mine Denniston.
"To get that project on the West Coast off the ground - we believe it requires someone's full-time attention who is very experienced in coal mining and that's what Bathurst brings to the table," Mr Hogan said.
However, he said the resource consent for the project had not been granted yet.
L&M applied to the West Coast Regional Council for consents for a coalmine on the Denniston Plateau in December 2008.
"The application was put on hold while L&M investigated alternative options for transporting coal from the plateau," said council consents and compliance manager Colin Dall.
"The council understands that L&M has now done this and will be either amending its original consent application or lodging a new application in the near future."
Bathurst aimed for late 2011 production from the Buller coalfield.
