VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA — (Marketwired) — 09/24/13 — Colonial Coal International Corp. (TSX VENTURE: CAD) (the „Company“ or „Colonial Coal“) – David Austin, Colonial Coal-s President and CEO, is pleased to announce the results of a recently completed Preliminary Economic Assessment (the „PEA“) for the Company-s 100% owned Huguenot metallurgical coal project (the „Huguenot Project“) located approximately 85 kilometres southeast of Tumbler Ridge in northeast British Columbia.
The PEA report, prepared by Norwest Corporation („Norwest“) in accordance with CSA National Instrument 43-101 („NI 43-101“) standards, has been filed on SEDAR. The results of the PEA suggest that the Huguenot Project has positive economics and that it is worthy of continued exploration and development.
In summary, Norwest updated previously reported (2012) in situ and potentially mineable resources, developed a conceptual mine plan to exploit the coal resources through a combination of open pit and underground mining and prepared scoping-level cost estimates and economic analyses for the Huguenot Project.
Highlights of the PEA report respecting the Huguenot Project are summarized as follows (all costs are in US dollars):
As part of the PEA, updated previous resource estimates reported by Norwest in a prior NI 43-101 technical report issued in August 2012, to account for results from the 2012 drilling program. The revised resource estimates are tabulated below:
Conceptual mine plans developed in the study utilize surface mining for the steeper dipping sections of the North, Middle and South resource blocks, while the shallower dipping portions of the North Block below the economic limits of the open pit were conceived as being mineable by underground longwall mining techniques. Coal resources accounted for in both the open pit and underground mine plans were estimated as:
It was assumed that the Huguenot Project would be connected by rail to the existing rail line south of Tumbler Ridge, and that a third party would construct this rail link, with costs being charged to the Huguenot Project on an annual basis. It was further assumed that other potential projects along that extended rail corridor would come on stream during the same general time frame as the Huguenot Project and that the rail costs would be shared among several users, such that the Huguenot Project-s share of the annual costs would be no more than 50% of the total.
The initial capital costs of the Huguenot Project have been significantly reduced by assuming that major equipment items for surface mining would be leased, and are therefore included as cash operating costs. Pre-production capital cost for the proposed underground mine is estimated US$387 million including a 15% contingency allowance, with additional sustaining capital of US$186 million over the life of the mine.
A summary of the financial analyses is shown in the following table:
This PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are considered to be too geologically speculative to be subject to economic considerations that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is no certainty that the forecast results stated in the PEA will be realized.
This press release has been reviewed by Warren Evenson of Norwest, a Professional Geologist and a Qualified Person, as defined in NI 43-101.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
About Colonial Coal International Corp.
Colonial is a publicly traded pure-play coking coal company in British Columbia. The northeast Coal Block of British Columbia, within which our Company-s projects are located, hosts a number of proven deposits and has been the subject of M&A activities by Xstrata, Walter Energy, Anglo-American and others.
Additional information can be found on the Company-s website or by viewing the Company-s filings at .
Forward-Looking Information
Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address a company-s expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as „anticipate“, „believe“, „plan“, „estimate“, „expect“, and „intend“, statements that an action or event „may“, „might“, „could“, „should“, or „will“ be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following risks: risks associated with marketing and sale of securities; the need for additional financing; reliance on key personnel; the potential for conflicts of interest among certain officers or directors with certain other projects; and the volatility of common share price and volume. Forward-looking statements are made based on management-s beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.
THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS NEWS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE COMPANY AS OF THE DATE OF THIS NEWS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE THE COMPANY MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE SECURITIES LEGISLATION.
Contacts: Colonial Coal International Corp. Perry Braun 604.568.4962
Colonial Coal International Corp. Shane Austin 604.568.4962
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