PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mining contractor MACA has appointed receiver managers over the A$34.7-million owed from embattled coal miner Carabella Resources for work performed at its Bluff project, in Queensland.
The Bluff project moved into care and maintenance at the end of October this year on the back of falling coal prices and on the uncertainty around the Chinese government’s policy relating to Australian metallurgical coal imports.
MACA CEO Mike Sutton said at the time that the company was able to redeploy the majority of the Bluff fleet to existing and new projects which would start shortly.
The relocation of the Bluff fleet is expected to reduce MACA’s capital expenditure for 2021 by some A$35-million.
The 1.2-million-tonne-a-year project shipped its first coal in July of last year, with MACA having been awarded a life-of-mine contract from the Chinese-owned Carabella worth an estimated A$700-million over an expected decade-long mine life.