Maules Creek Project
Maules Creek is one of the last major undeveloped and significant multi-seam coal deposits in New South Wales.
The Project has a JORC Resource of 679Mt and JORC Coal Reserves of 362Mt. The significant Resource base is expected to sustain a potential project life in excess of 30 years. Aston expects the mine will have average saleable coal production of 10.8Mtpa.
Maules Creek is located in the heart of the Gunnedah Basin and is within close proximity to critical infrastructure, situated 16km from the main railway line servicing the coal terminals at the Port of Newcastle. Aston Resources has developed a detailed 20 year Mine Plan and expects first coal in the second half of 2012, with saleable production exceeding 10Mtpa from 2014.
Maules Creek:
is geologically well known, such that mine planning can be undertaken with confidence;
has an attractive cost structure with a low strip ratio (at an average of 6.4:1 over the first 20 years); and
has an expected saleable mine yield of 89%.
Because of these key features, Maules Creek is expected to produce coal at relatively low operating costs per tonne.
The majority of Maules Creek production is expected to be higher margin metallurgical coal. The Project will produce semi-soft coking coal (47%) and high volatile PCI coal (10%). The export thermal coal produced at Maules Creek is expected to receive a premium because of its high energy, low ash and low sulphur characteristics.