Resgen committed to Boikarabelo development

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The chairperson of dual-listed Resource Generation (Resgen), Denis Gately has told shareholders that the company is committed to the development of the Boikarabelo coal mine, in South Africa.

Addressing the firm’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Wednesday, Gately said that despite Resgen's best efforts to date, financing and construction of the mine had taken longer than expected.

“My goal had been to stand before you at this AGM and say that we are funded and under construction. All of the efforts of management and the board have been directed at achieving that goal.

“Unfortunately, we have not succeeded. But we remain committed to achieving development of the mine in the very near term, and we continue to push on with all the necessary contractual and financial arrangements required to achieve that goal.”

Resgen initially aimed to deliver first coal at Boikarabelo in the final quarter of 2018, but with financing discussions set to close by March 2017, first coal is now only scheduled for the first quarter of 2019.

The Boikarabelo project has a probable reserve of some 744.8-million tonnes, a measured resource of 1.1-billion tonnes, an indicated resource of 551.7-million tonnes and an inferred resource of 1.5-billion tonnes. The mine will be developed using a two-phased approach, with the first phase delivering about 14-million tonnes of run-of-mine coal a year, which will equate to about six-million tonnes of product coal. Phase 2, planned for 2022, involves ramping up production to 20-million tonnes of product thermal coal.