Coalspur Mines Limited (ASX:CPL,TSX:CPT) says a positive scoping study has confirmed the potential for an underground mine at its wholly owned Vista Extension property in North America.
The scoping study examined factors including coal resource estimate and production scenarios, mine scheduling, coal handling and processing, operating and capital cost assessment and integration with development on Vista.
The coal company says the study validates the acquisition of the leases earlier in the year and confirms the potential for an economic and technically feasible underground long-wall mine at Vista Extension.
Coalspur also believes Vista Extension could leverage off Vista’s coal mining, handling and processing infrastructure in the future and already secured rail and port capacity.
Coalspur remains focussed on securing funding and approvals for Vista but says it plans to start a pre-feasibility study next year to examine scenarios for the integration of the two projects.
In the first half of the 2012 financial year Coalspur booked a net loss of $13.3 million.
