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METRO MINING LIMITED — Management Reports 2010
Nov 25, 2010
65351_rns_2010-11-25_6a849892-7111-4921-90ec-1504195aa674.pdf
Management Reports
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26 November 2010
Company Announcements Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) Level 5, Riverside Centre, 123 Eagle Street, BRISBANE QLD
Dear Sir/Madam
Clarification of Letter to Shareholders dated 24 November 2010
The attached letter has been amended to clarify the 709Mt JORC compliant resource comprises 686 Mt Inferred and 23Mt Indicated, and to reflect the ASX release referred to was dated 18 November not 19 November.
Yours sincerely
Chief Executive Officer
Mike O'Brien
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24 November 2010 – Revised 26 November 2010
Dear Shareholder,
Summary of achievements in first year of ASX listing.
On behalf of the Board of Directors and management of MetroCoal Limited (ASX-MTE), we take great pleasure in presenting this summary of our company’s achievements since listing in December 2009.
MetroCoal has achieved significant milestones as we have forged ahead with our exploration and evaluation programs targeting the high quality thermal coal deposits of the Surat Basin.
This progress has reinforced our vision of building a substantial export thermal coal and cleaner energy business based on the two pronged strategy of conventional underground mining operations and underground coal gasification (UCG). Our extremely productive first year has increased our understanding of the Surat Basin coal resources and has confirmed the continuity of our target coal seam, the Macalister Upper, across our Bundi, Norwood and Juandah project areas.
During 2010 MetroCoal expanded its underground coal mining resource base in the Surat Basin to 537 million tonnes (Mt) incorporating the Bundi (381Mt) and Norwood (156Mt) project areas in addition to the previously announced 172Mt of UCG resource in the Juandah Project area. At the date of this letter, the total JORC tonnage is 709Mt of which 686Mt is Inferred and 23Mt is Indicated ( see MTE ASX release dated 18 November 2010) .
It has also been an important year for the Surat Basin as a whole with several key developments that will support all the infrastructure projects required to bring Surat Basin coal to the export market. Wiggins Island Coal Terminal (WICET) announced on 30 September 2010 that coal producers had achieved capacity commitments of 27Mt for Stage 1 of WICET, opening the way for the second stage in which MetroCoal has signed a Feasibility Funding Deed for tonnage of 12 Million tonne per annum. Several other coal companies have announced substantial projects in the Surat that will provide the tonnage to drive the construction of the Surat Basin Rail link from Wandoan to Banana.
The major highlight for the year has been the announcement of our $30 million joint venture agreement with SinoCoal Resources Pty Ltd, the Australian subsidiary of China Coal Import & Export Company (CCIEC), a wholly owned subsidiary of China Coal. Successfully bringing SinoCoal in as a joint venture partner was a significant achievement for MetroCoal, meeting our stated strategic objective of developing projects with substantial like-minded companies.
The China Coal joint venture became unconditional on 15 September 2010 and on November 3, 2010 we were delighted to announce that a drilling contract had been awarded to Dynamic Drilling Pty Ltd and GeosMining Pty Ltd had been appointed to manage the field exploration. The planned drilling program will consist of 30 holes on a 3.6 km offset grid to optimise drill spacing for resource estimation.
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In addition to the $10 million raised from the initial IPO at 25 cents, MetroCoal recently completed a $10.5 million capital raising involving the placement of 35 million shares at an issue price of 30 cents per share, which closed nearly three times oversubscribed.
Proceeds of the capital raising will be used for the acceleration of exploration activity primarily in the Bundi Project area and funding for early commitments for planned infrastructure participation such as the expansion of Stage 2 of WICET and the Surat Basin Rail.
MetroCoal has also investigated opportunities outside its Surat Basin holdings by entering the Indonesian thermal coal export market via low cost, low risk sub bituminous acquisitions. In August this year we identified an opportunity to enter the thermal coal business in Indonesia through the acquisition of an Australian entity holding a 100% interest in Indonesian coal exploration project areas. After an initial investment of $130,000 MetroCoal holds 20% of this company with an option to increase the interest to 51%. Due diligence is progressing. This strategy is low cost and low risk and allows us to investigate the opportunity while not detracting from our core Surat Basin focus but promising very attractive returns in the near future.
Unseasonal wet weather during August and September, continuing through to November has slowed down our drilling program in the Bundi Project area and delayed the planned start to the Columboola exploration program. However, this does not mean our team have slowed down its activities.
Our CEO, Mike O’Brien will be visiting the Indonesian project in late November before continuing on to Beijing for the second Joint Venture Meeting with China Coal. Our Chairman, David Barwick and Chief Operating Officer, Theo Psaros commence a road show this week to institutions and brokers in Vancouver, New York, and Hong Kong and will also attend the JV meeting in Beijing.
We expect to achieve significant international awareness of MetroCoal’s activities and plans as a result of these initiatives.
In conclusion we are pleased with progress during the year. We have met our significant milestones and are well funded with solid work plans set out for the coming year. Based on our experience and drilling results to-date we are extremely confident that we remain on track to meet our thermal coal exploration targets of between 2.5 and 3.5 billion tonnes* by the end of 2011.
We appreciate your support of MetroCoal during 2010 and look forward to a busy and exciting year in 2011
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David K Barwick Chairman
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Mike O’Brien Chief Executive Officer
* The potential quantity and quality is conceptual in nature, and that there has been insufficient exploration to define a Mineral Resource of Ore Reserve and that it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the determination of a Mineral Resource or Ore Reserve.