Avexa Limited
(ASX:AVX) says it’s making headway with plans to begin mining at its North Pratt Coal Mine in the US, with revenue to help it fund drug development.
The biotech company announced last year that it would pay $US4 million for a 25.5 per cent stake in Coal Holdings USA which owns the North Pratt coal mine near Birmingham, Alabama.
Avexa aims to use money generated by mining to fund the final clinical development of a compound it hopes will be used in the treatment of drug-resistant HIV.
The company says the North Pratt mine has been granted a draft permit to start mining.
The draft permit is now open to public comment and review by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The final permit is expected to be granted by June and will allow mining operations to begin.
Avexa reported a loss of $1.85 million for the first half of the 2013 financial year.
