Miners aim to repeat success
THE man who invested $1 in a struggling Queensland coal mine five years ago and turned it into a billion dollar asset is hoping to repeat his success in the Bowen Basin.
Nick Jorss as head of Stanmore Coal paid a dollar for the mothballed Isaac Plains coalmine in 2015 before transforming into an operation employing hundreds of workers. Now as a director of ASXlisted Bowen Coking Coal, Mr Jorss is part of a team that has raised $2.25m to buy the Broadmeadow East mine that has been dubbed “Stanmore Mark II.”
Bowen acquired the mine from Peabody for $1m in cash and up to $1.5m in coal royalties. The acquisition comes with access to a coal handling plant and rail access. The mine, located about 25km northeast of Moranbah within the central Bowen Basin, will employ about 200 people.
“We are looking to build a mid-tier operation and we believe we are the right team to do it,” said Mr Jorss.
“We like to find mines, get them up and running and make money from them. We like assets that are depressed.”
After raising funds for the transaction, Bowen hopes to be in production within two years.
Former Stanmore chairman Neville Sneddon now chairs Bowen while Stephen Bizzell, a co-founding director of Stanmore, has become an investor in Bowen through the capital raising.
Mr Jorss said that with governments around the world boosting infrastructure spending to overcome the pandemic economic slump, he hoped demand for coking coal would be at buoyant level when production at the mine starts in about 18 months.
Bowen managing director Gerhard Redelinghuys said Broadmeadow East was the most advanced project within the company’s current portfolio of coking coal development projects.
“This reflects the board’s desire to transform the company from a developer to producer as soon as possible,” said Mr Redelinghuys.
Bowen shares closed at 5.2c on Friday, giving the company a market value of $44.14m.