Whitehaven Coal Pays Coal & Allied A$31.5 Million For Vickery Project
October 19 2009 - 11:34PM
Dow Jones News
Whitehaven Coal Ltd. (WHC.AU) said Tuesday it has struck a deal
to pay Coal & Allied Industries Ltd. (CNA.AU) A$31.5 million
for the Vickery coal project and surrounding tenements in New South
Wales state.
As part of the deal, Whitehaven will also hand over 1,150
hectares of land in the Gunnedah region to Coal & Allied.
Whitehaven said it plans to target the development of both an
open pit and underground mine at Vickery, which Managing Director
Tony Haggarty said was an important bolt on acquisition for the
company.
"It consolidates the company's significant tenement holding in
the Gunnedah region and our expectation is that with focussed
exploration in the next year, substantial open cut and underground
coal resources will be defined," he said in a statement.
Coal & Allied, a unit of Rio Tinto Ltd. (RTP), said it
expects the transaction to be completed in the fourth quarter of
calendar 2009.
-By Alex Wilson, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-3-9292-2094;
alex.wilson@dowjones.com