Mon Jul 18, 2011
JOHANNESBURG, July 18 (Reuters) - Toronto-listed Forbes Coal is looking to consolidate with mines or projects close to its two South African assets, its chief executive officer said on Monday.
The junior miner, which is planning a secondary listing in Johannesburg this month, has two operating mines in KwaZulu-Natal province which are being ramped up to produce 1.4 million tonnes of coal for sale by 2013 from 648,000 this year.
"We would like to focus in the immediate term in the KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga areas where we see some potential projects," Chief Executive Officer Stephan Theron told media, but declined to give more details.
"It would be of great advantage if we could acquire additional mines within our region. With that come a lot of synergies."
Although Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa's Waterberg region have significant undeveloped coal resources, Forbes Coal would not look at them now due to infrastructure constraints, he said.
The firm had no immediate plans to raise funds, but would do so once an acquisition had been identified, he added.
"We are fully funded at the moment. Catalyst for future fundraising would purely be based on an acquisition or a development project," he said.
Forbes Coal is focusing on the export market to sell its coal and South African industries such as the pulp and paper, cement and chemical sectors.
Coal miners in South Africa have been expanding operations, eager to benefit from rising demand from Asia, although exports have been limited by infrastructure bottlenecks.
Forbes Coal said it had an annual export allocation of 197,000 tonnes at the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT).
The miner has also concluded a deal with logistics group Grindrod for additional capacity through Grindrod's Navitrade Terminal at Richards Bay of 600,000 tonnes this year, rising to 960,000 tonnes in 2013.
(sourced Reuters)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment