Sydney, 23 July (Argus) — Australian independent Jellinbah has awarded a A$2.3bn ($2.4bn) contract to Australian contractor Theiss to increase production at its Vermont Lake coking coal mine to 8mn t/yr from 4mn t/yr.
Jellinbah plans to expand output at Vermont Lake to 6mn t/yr of hard coking and PCI coal next year and reach 8mn t/yr in 2015, depending on the development of associated infrastructure. Coal from the mine in Queensland's Bowen basin is shipped from the ports of Dalrymple Bay and Gladstone.
Jellinbah owns 70pc of Lake Vermont, with Japan's Marubeni and Sojitz and North American investment firm AMCI each holding 10pc.
Private-sector Jellinbah is one of the few remaining independent mid-tier coal miners left in Australia. Fellow producers Centennial Coal, Gloucester Coal and Aston Resources have all been taken over in recent years, while Whitehaven Coal is subject to a takeover offer from Australian entrepreneur Nathan Tinkler.
Jellinbah also owns 70pc of the 4.6mn t/yr Jellinbah coal mine in the Bowen basin, with Marubeni and Sojitz each holding 15pc. It has applied for environmental approvals to add 2mn t/yr of capacity by expanding the mine north of the Mackenzie River.
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