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Prairie Mining enters hard coking coal sector

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World Coal,


Prairie Mining has acquired the Debiensko hard coking coal project, a fully permitted, mine ready and world-class project with a significant global scale.

The project is situated in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin in the southwest of the Republic of Poland, a strategic location in the steelmaking heartland of Europe, where more than 80% of current metallurgical coal usage is imported and the commodity is classified by the EC as a ‘Critical Raw Material’.

This is a transformational acquisition marking Prairie’s entry into the hard coking coal sector, complementing Prairie’s advanced Lublin coal project, and creating a multi-project coal development company based in Poland to fuel European industry.

Prairie has acquired the project through the purchase of 100% of the shares in NWR Karbonia S.A for an upfront cash consideration of €0.5 million and deferred cash consideration of €1.5 million.

Prairie believes Debiensko has the potential to become a strategically important supplier to the European steelmaking industry and will actively pursue Debiensko’s development alongside its continued progress at its flagship Lublin coal project.

A large-scale coal exploration target has been estimated based on historical drilling and resource work completed to Polish standards, as well as data from adjacent operating mines. Coal seam qualities are indicative of internationally traded benchmark premium hard coking coals.

Debiensko is fully permitted with a 50-year mining concession, established onsite facilities – including rail, road and power infrastructure – comprehensive historical drilling data and all environmental consents. As a brownfield development project, significant historical capital investment positions Debiensko to become a meaningful, near-term regional hard coking coal producer.

The first priority of the Prairie is to undertake a detailed review of historic exploration, geophysical survey, drilling, coal quality, and development data acquired through this transaction. This will be followed by an infill core drilling program and 3D geological modelling in order to successfully delineate hard coking coal resource in accordance with the JORC Code (2012).

“For a long time, Debiensko has been regarded as the last major undeveloped hard coking coal project in Europe” said Ben Stoikovich, CEO of Prairie. “This transaction not only marks Prairie’s entry into the hard coking coal sector through ownership of a strategically located and fully permitted asset on the doorstep of Central European steelmakers, but also further cements our belief in the future of the Polish coal mining industry.”

Founder and Managing Partner of CD Capital, Carmel Daniele said: “CD Capital, as a cornerstone investor in Prairie, is very excited about the company's successful addition of a second coking coal project. We are long-term investors and partners in the group and we are committed to working with Prairie's management team to realise the full development potential of its projects. The acquisition of the Debiensko hard coking coal project, together with the semi-soft coking coal from Prairie's flagship Lublin Coal Project, will position Prairie to be the next strategic coking coal supplier to Europe's steel industry.”

Following detailed technical due diligence by Prairie Mining, the company is confident that a revised development approach would allow for the early mining of profitable coal seams, while minimising upfront capital costs. This is likely to include focusing on a smaller area of Debiensko to target coal seams that are more readily accessible.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/exploration-and-development/11102016/prairie-mining-enters-hard-coking-coal-sector/

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