Bathurst working but just ticking over

Hamish Bohannan.
Hamish Bohannan.
Bathurst Resources has started work at its West Coast escarpment but Craigs Investment Partners broker Peter McIntyre said the announcement yesterday meant very little in the big scheme of things.

''Bathurst has always said it would maintain minimum staff levels there, waiting for coking coal prices to increase.

"I would describe this as chipping away at the edges. There is no production except for the contracts already in place.''

The shares were unchanged at 4.6c, Mr McIntyre said.

Bathurst's managing director, Hamish Bohannan, said in a statement a small team of men was engaged full-time on the site.

Fences and signage had been erected and current activities were clearing areas for coal storage and site infrastructure and initial earthworks for the installation of water management systems.

In the coming months, the company would carry out further preliminary site works at the escarpment but would defer the full development of the mine site until international coking coal prices improved.

''Our initial activities at [the] escarpment will be low key during the first phase of development.

"The intention is to prepare the site to a point where we can quickly ramp up to a steady state of mining when the price of export coking coal recovers,'' Mr Bohannan said.

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