Quarterly Activities & Cashflow Reports
Sydney, April 30, 2013 AEST (ABN Newswire) - The March 2013 quarter marked another busy period for Cuesta Coal Limited (
ASX:CQC) with the achievement of two significant corporate milestones as plans to transform the Company from explorer to developer continue to be executed.
Cuesta completed the bolt-on acquisition of the Orion Coal Project (EPCs 775 and 776) for $18.2m, which has been integrated with Cuesta's existing Moorlands Deposit to the immediate south, creating Cuesta's flagship development project.
On 22nd February 2013, Cuesta announced that it had executed a $12m Share Placement Agreement at 18 cents per share with major shareholder Beijing Guoli. This will provide adequate funding to progress initial development plans for Moorlands and assist with the Company's working capital requirements. It is anticipated that the placement will be completed by Q2 2013.
Operational planning work commenced for the 2013 drill season along with substantial desktop geological evaluation activities for Cuesta's projects.
During the quarter, Cuesta consolidated all of the geological data into a robust 3D geological model. A revised resource of 146Mt was estimated from the geological model and this was provided to Xenith Consulting (Xenith) who are using it as the basis to complete a Mine Scoping Study. Cuesta expects that the Mine Scoping Study will be completed in May 2013.
Key advantages of the Moorlands Deposit include:
- Shallow and thick coal seams allowing the Scoping Study to target a <5:1 strip ratio- Primary coal seams consist of B4 averaging 6m, B8 averaging 10m and B9 averaging 3m
- Secondary coal seams consist of B5 and B7, both averaging 1.5m-2m
- Several coal seams and individual coal plies will not require washing, enhancing project economics
- Located 14km from existing infrastructure at the Blair Athol Mine.
Cuesta continues to investigate rail and port infrastructure options for the Moorlands Project and is targeting formal agreements in 2013.
The Moorlands Project is Cuesta's priority development project which the Company believes will be a robust open cut thermal coal project.
During the quarter, Cuesta conducted an internal review of its projects and will seek divestment opportunities where appropriate of non-core assets. No exploration activity was undertaken on any of Cuesta's projects during the quarter; however exploration planning activities are well advanced for the 2013 drill season.
Cuesta announced the appointment of Mr Brian Johnson as Non-executive Chairman of the Company on 12th of March 2013.
At the end of March 2013, Cuesta had cash and cash equivalents of $5.618m (excluding the funds from the $12m share placement).
To view the full quarterly report, please visit:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-CQC-732746.pdf
Contact
Cuesta Coal Limited
T: +61-2-9284-5900
F: +61-2-9284-5999
E: info@cuestacoal.com.au
WWW: www.cuestacoal.com.au
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