BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) is selling its mothballed Gregory Crinum coking coal mine to Sojitz Corporation for $100 million.
Sojitz said today it planned to recommence operations at Gregory Crinum as soon as the acquisition process was complete.
The Gregory Crinum operation, 60km north-east of Emerald, comprises the Crinum underground mine, Gregory open-cut mine, undeveloped coal resources and on-site infrastructure including a coal handling and preparation plant, maintenance workshops and administration facilities.
Gregory Crinum mine’s capacity was six million tonnes of hard coking coal per annum when production ceased and it was placed into care and maintenance in January 2016.
Sojitz subsidiary Sojitz Coal Mining operates the Minerva mine, south of Emerald, and recently brought into production Meteor Downs South coal mine.
“The acquisition this time will not only leverage off the expertise at Minerva and MDS, but will also strengthen Sojitz’s coking coal business and rebalance its coal assets currently weighted towards thermal coal, in view of the rising global concern for the environment and long-term business sustainability,” the company said in a statement today.
