The first steps towards developing the Escarpment coal mine in New Zealand have been taken.
Bathurst Resources announced that initial activities have commenced at the minesite, as a small team of men are now engaged full time onsite.
Fences and signage have been erected and current activities have focused on clearing areas for coal storage and site infrastructure – as well as initial earthworks for the installation of water management systems.
In a statement, Bathurst said it would carry out preliminary site work at the mine, but that full development of the site would be deferred until international metallurgical coal prices improve.
Any coal recovered by Bathurst during the construction phase would be sold into existing contracts, the company saod.
Hamish Bohannan, managing director of Bathurst, said, “Our initial activities will low key during this first phase of development; the intention is to prepare the site to a point where we can quickly ramp up to steady state mining when the price of export coking coal recovers".
Adapted from press release by Sam Dodson