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Xstrata Plc is looking to offload a portion of its $6.4 billion Wandoan coal project in Australia, the Wall Street Journal (sub required) reports.
Citing an un-named source, WSJ says Xstrata may sell a 20% stake in the proposed mine, located east of Wandoan township in Queensland:
Xstrata owns 75% of Wandoan in Queensland state’s Surat Basin and is seeking to share development risk with a new strategic partner, which would also earn offtake rights to at least a fifth of the thermal coal produced from the open-cut mine, the person said. Wandoan’s minority shareholders are Japan’s Itochu Corp. and Sumitomo Corp., which each own 12.5% of the project.
According to its website, Xstrata says the open-cut thermal coal project, which includes a mine, coal handling plant and support facilities, would have a 30-year life and produce about 30 million run of mine tonnes per annum.
The project received an environmental approval from the Queensland government in 2010 and a conditional environmental approval from the federal government last year.
Xstrata and commodities giant Glencore announced earlier this month an all-share merger that would create a $90-billion mining company to be named “Glencore Xstrata International PLC”.
