By David Winning, Dow Jones Newswires
AUSTRALIAN miner Cockatoo Coal has put its Taabinga thermal coal project in Queensland up for sale, an informed source said today, in the latest sign that deal-flow in the coal sector is accelerating.
Sydney-based Cockatoo - one of a handful of listed Australian companies with producing coal mines - has appointed advisory firm RFC Corporate Finance to handle the sale of the Taabinga project, which has an estimated 252 million tonnes of undeveloped coal resources.
Cockatoo Coal and RFC each declined to comment on the sale.
Miners with Australian coal deposits are seeking to cash in on high asset-valuations and rising interest from overseas buyers, particularly emerging economies like China and India that need to ramp up coal imports to cover a growing supply gap at home.
Thermal coal is used to generate electricity, while coking coal is sought after by rapidly industrialising nations for its use in the steel production.
China's Yanzhou Coal Mining said on August 1 it had agreed to buy Syntech Resources, which operates a thermal coal mine in Queensland's Surat Basin; Yanzhou also acquired some exploration licenses for $202.5m.
In earlier signs of industry consolidation, Rio Tinto and Mitsubishi Corp launched a joint offer on Monday to take full control of Coal & Allied Industries, valuing Australia's sixth-largest coal miner by output at $10.6 billion. The deal echoed Peabody Energy and ArcelorMittal's recent $4.7bn bid for another Australian miner, Macarthur Coal.
Cockatoo Coal aims to attract bidders for the Taabinga project, which lies in the Tarong Basin east of the Surat, by flagging its potential to produce thermal coal for export.
The deposit is close to an existing rail line that runs as far as Gladstone, where a consortium of miners proposes to build the Wiggins Island Coal Terminal. Although export capacity for the first phase of the terminal's construction has already been allocated, Taabinga coal could be exported from 2016 when the port is due to be expanded.
Of the Taabinga project's coal resources, 91mt are in the most reliable "measured" and "indicated" categories. Cockatoo's valuation of the project isn't known.
Cockatoo Coal, which has several South Korean coal consumers on its share registry, operates the producing Baralaba coal mine and has several other projects in Queensland in development.
Shares in Cockatoo Coal jumped 6.85 per cent, adding 3 cents to 39c today as the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose nearly 3 per cent.
Sydney-based Cockatoo - one of a handful of listed Australian companies with producing coal mines - has appointed advisory firm RFC Corporate Finance to handle the sale of the Taabinga project, which has an estimated 252 million tonnes of undeveloped coal resources.
Cockatoo Coal and RFC each declined to comment on the sale.
Miners with Australian coal deposits are seeking to cash in on high asset-valuations and rising interest from overseas buyers, particularly emerging economies like China and India that need to ramp up coal imports to cover a growing supply gap at home.
Thermal coal is used to generate electricity, while coking coal is sought after by rapidly industrialising nations for its use in the steel production.
China's Yanzhou Coal Mining said on August 1 it had agreed to buy Syntech Resources, which operates a thermal coal mine in Queensland's Surat Basin; Yanzhou also acquired some exploration licenses for $202.5m.
In earlier signs of industry consolidation, Rio Tinto and Mitsubishi Corp launched a joint offer on Monday to take full control of Coal & Allied Industries, valuing Australia's sixth-largest coal miner by output at $10.6 billion. The deal echoed Peabody Energy and ArcelorMittal's recent $4.7bn bid for another Australian miner, Macarthur Coal.
Cockatoo Coal aims to attract bidders for the Taabinga project, which lies in the Tarong Basin east of the Surat, by flagging its potential to produce thermal coal for export.
The deposit is close to an existing rail line that runs as far as Gladstone, where a consortium of miners proposes to build the Wiggins Island Coal Terminal. Although export capacity for the first phase of the terminal's construction has already been allocated, Taabinga coal could be exported from 2016 when the port is due to be expanded.
Of the Taabinga project's coal resources, 91mt are in the most reliable "measured" and "indicated" categories. Cockatoo's valuation of the project isn't known.
Cockatoo Coal, which has several South Korean coal consumers on its share registry, operates the producing Baralaba coal mine and has several other projects in Queensland in development.
Shares in Cockatoo Coal jumped 6.85 per cent, adding 3 cents to 39c today as the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose nearly 3 per cent.
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