Maybe I was a little premature with my predictions of 12,000,000...

Maybe I was a little premature with my predictions of 12,000,000 tonnes. Found an article dated 10 November on Highgrade which states 8,000,000 over 30 years. It doesn't mention ramping up so who knows but I still can't help but think there maybe some upside surprise in the release. We will definitely know next week. Still, extremely strong economics exist. Apologies for my previous exuberance but we may get to 12 mill with Vista South one day.

Profess, you will at least get your 8 mill tonnes though!

(This article appears not to be subject to re-transmitting restrictions so I have posted the full article)

Coalspur primes for pre-feasibility

Angie Tomlinson, 10 November 2010

WITH just one week to go before Coalspur releases its much-anticipated Vista pre-feasibility study, the company has been working hard to consolidate its land holdings around the Canadian project and shore-up investor support in Australia and Canada.

Managing director Gene Wusaty said next week's study would show an eight-million-tonne per annum opencut operation with a mine life of 30 years - a significant operation for the explorer which only turned its attention to coal in 2008.

Located adjacent to the main line of the CN Rail in Alberta, Canada, Vista's leases cover almost 9000ha and contain a JORC resource of 1.2 billion tonnes (1.01Bt measured or indicated) of low sulphur, high volatile, bituminous C thermal coal. The company has a total coal resource of 1.37Bt.

Wusaty told HighGrade he expected the Vista feasibility study to be underway in the first quarter of next year and completion due in the third quarter when he believes the project will be given the green light. If construction is started by mid-2012, project commissioning will be at the end of 2013.

While the feasibility study will dictate the capital requirements of the project, Coalspur is well positioned with $A20 million in the bank and debt-free following an $80 million capital raising from strategic and institutional investors in North America and Europe. The raising allowed the company to pay off six assets contiguous with the Vista project purchased five months ago.

Wusaty said Coalspur would start talks next year to fund the development of Vista with designs to bring on board cornerstone end-user investors under offtake deals. He said he would also be speaking with some of the big international mining houses as potential investors.
With all its attention tuned on Vista it was only recently that Coalspur was able to drill outside the tenement at Vista South with a maiden resource of 168.3Mt announced last week.

"The Vista South Project area extends for over 25km in each of the northern and southern limb of the Entrance Syncline. Given its proximity to the flagship Vista Coal Project we will initially be focusing on the northern limb which we believe has the potential to host a significant resource. Any economic coal deposits defined on the northern limb can easily be leveraged off the infrastructure to be developed for the Vista coal project," Wusaty said.

The drilling increased Coalspur's coal resources past the billion tonne mark, giving the company plenty of upside to its flagship project.

"Vista South is more than twice the size of Vista in land area, yet this was the first resource statement that we have been able to put out. There is a lot of opportunity; we know we have a large coal structure there but that was the first time we actually went in and drilled it," Wusaty said.

"Vista South resources indicated to us that there was some potential so in the next month we are going to go out there and drill the second phase. It is premature to say how Vista South will play into the big picture but over the next year we will be able to understand what we have there."

While Coalspur's listing on the Australian Securities Exchange has been received well, currently trading around the $A1.30 mark after starting 2010 a touch over 30c and with a market capitalisation of $640.35 million, the company always had designs on a dual-listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange, realising the plan late last month.

"We always targeted the TSX right from the start as we are a Canadian asset. Coal shows in North America aren't as common as they are in Australia but if it is a good sized project the reception for coal is very good," Wusaty said.

Shoring-up its Canadian links and attractiveness to North American investors was the recent appointment of former Lionore CEO Colin Steyn. A well-known name in the North American mining industry, Steyn also adds 30 years mining experience to Coalspur's board.

Steyn is part of the Highland Park Group who had invested heavily in Coalspur. Key investors in the group include the original founders and former executives of LionOre Mining International which was acquired three years ago by Norilsk Nickel for $US6.3 billion.