Rio Tinto Taps World's Largest Coking Coal Deposit in Australia

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The following is an advisory by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Inc.; Houston, Texas). One of the largest coking coal deposits in the world with total resources estimated at 1.2 billion tons is the site of a development between Rio Tinto plc (London, U.K.) and its joint venture partners. The US$212 million Hail Creek coal project is in central Queensland, Australia. Pacific Coal, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, will construct and manage the project and will hold 92% with Marubeni 5.33% and Sumitomo 2.67%.

When in full production, the mine will produce 5.5 million tons of high quality hard coking coal per year for export, generating export earnings of A$400 million a year at present market prices. The project investment will include a dragline, mine infrastructure, a wash plant and a 52 kilometer rail spur.