Miner who turned $1 into $1b asset
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 it 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 $2.25 million to buy the Broadmeadow East mine that has been dubbed “Stanmore Mark II”.
Bowen acquired the mine from Peabody for $1 million in cash and up to $1.5 million in coal royalties.
The acquisition comes with access to a coal-handling plant and rail access.
“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 levels when production at the mine started 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,” Mr Redelinghuys said.