Riversdale Resources

Very interesting article

http://www.cbj.ca/riversdale-resources/

Riversdale Resources reaches shipping agreement with Westshore Terminals

The following is information regarding Riversdale and Westshore Terminals reaching agreement to ship product through that port beginning in 2018.

"Westshore has entered into an agreement with Riversdale Resources Limited, a Canadian company with a planned metallurgical (steel making) coal mine to be developed in Blairmore, Alberta. Under the terms of the agreement, Riversdale will pay Westshore an annual  reservation fee to hold up to 2 million tonnes of capacity at Westshore. Production is slated to start in late 2018 and ramping up in 2019. The agreement with Riversdale also includes a 10 year throughput agreement for such volumes ending in 2028."

The full article is available at: 
http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1464605/westshore-terminals-announces-q4-2014-distribution

Riversdale Resources-- Crowsnest Pass

Coal mining revival in Crowsnest Pass eyed by Australian company

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/coal-mining-revival-in-crowsnest-pass-eyed-by-australian-company-1.2781083


Riversdale will be hosting an open house today (Sept 30) from 2-6pm and tomorrow (Oct 1) from 2-7pm at the Crowsnest Pass Sports Complex.

They will be providing updates on the following topics:

Options for the rail and train load out.
Ongoing Environmental studies
Feasibility Study.

NOTE: Three options presented for the load-out, which I was told will be a 50' high enclosed building, trains will be up to 152 cars with three engines which is 8300' in length. The load-out will hold enough coal to load one train (16,000 plus tonnes) At two million tonnes there will be a train on average every third day.
Two options; show by my count nine holes of the golf courses including the club house area being taken out. To allow for the train to loop around and be loaded, on one option it shows the load-out about 1-1.5km up the hill from the highway. The second of these options shows the load-out adjacent to the highway a little east of where the golf course parking lot is. With both of these options the train will go under highway 3 roughly where the entrance to the old highway is, west of Tim Hortons.

The third option is running the coal by conveyor under the highway similar to the above, west of Tim Hortons again, with the belt going through the old pole plant yard to a load-out just west of that. There will be an additional rail siding there which will mean that the trains will require at least 8300' of track on each side of the load-out.

Riversdale Resources

Just received the following information regarding a Riversdale Resources open house.
For some reason I could not link the page so I copied and pasted the information.

Grassy Mountain Coal Project
Open House
Please join us from 5:30-7:30 on
Tuesday, October 15 at the
Crowsnest Sports Complex
to discuss the Grassy Mountain Project.
For details or inquiries, please contact
Morgan Tanner at 778-320-0409.

Riversdale Resources Update

Update on what is no question one of the most important things to happen to the Crowsnest Pass the development of Grassy Mountain by the Riversdale Resources goup. I and anybody that wishes to see the business sector pick up around here certainly hopes this delay of the public offering is short. This article is dated May 10 if anybody finds anything more recent I will be glad to post it.

Thanks to the reader that sent me this information.

Riversdale Resources delays IPO

http://www.afr.com/p/opinion/riversdale_resources_delays_ipo_uZXOxjcE8RoN3P7UUIz6nK

Talking to some folks that work at Teck last night they are anticipating the market will start turning around later this fall, in line with that I was also sent the following article by one of my readers very good read..

Despite its many doubters, the coal industry could soon roar back to life

Following a brutal year.

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/investing/back-in-the-black./

To the two individuals that sent me comments accusing me of trying to blame council for the down turn in the coal market. Stop being so silly, first I reported news that I think is relevant and of interest to some of my readers, and second of course I recognize its not council's fault if the coal market goes in the toilet that would be has stupid as council trying to take credit for Riversdale coming here.

Breaking News: MD of Ranchlands responds to Annexation request

Below is the MD of Ranchlands response to the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass on the issue of annexation.

Below that response is my opinion of what they are saying.   

M.D. of Ranchland responds to Annexation Proposal

M.D. of Ranchland Open letter to the Community 

On March 22, 2013, the Council of the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass (MCP) approached the M.D. of Ranchland with a proposal for MCP to annex all that portion of Ranchland that lies to the south and west of the Oldman River.  Such an annexation would result in the loss of one-third of the M.D. of Ranchland.

The catalyst for this annexation proposal is the renewed interest in coal deposits stretching from the Grassy Mountain area by Riversdale Resources, and up the Forestry Trunk Road by Elan Coal Ltd.  The type of mining involved is large scale, open-pit mining for metallurgical coal destined for the Asian market.

If such an annexation were to occur, the MCP is also requiring that Ranchland transfer $200,000 per year for five years to the MCP to cover the cost of servicing the proposed annexation area prior to any new potential tax revenue being realized.  The MCP proposes that Ranchland raise its mill rate on linear, commercial, and machinery & equipment to pay for this transfer of funds.  In other words, tax the Ranchland ratepayers to subsidise the MCP.

It is the considered opinion of the M.D. of Ranchland Council that this annexation should not proceed.  We believe that our first duty is to act in the best interest of all the taxpayers in our Municipal District whether residential, farmland, commercial or industrial. This proposal does not fit within our mandate as a responsible Council.

Mining in the area is currently in an exploratory phase.  Mineral rights are bought and sold frequently. Proposed resource developments do not always come to fruition.  It is a complex process to prove reserves, find capital, confirm contracts with customers, obtain regulatory approval and construct the facility.  If a mine does not come to fruition that would leave MCP in a dire situation as the annexed area would become a revenue drain as tax revenue for the area will not cover the cost of servicing.

If any proposed coal mining venture does proceed then, as the immediate service center, not only will such economic development benefit the MCP, but Ranchland would be open to discuss revenue sharing with neighbouring communities, including the MCP, to ensure that all benefit.

With Respect,

The Council of the Municipal District of Ranchland No. 66

My opinion: The Crowsnest Pass made a request for one third of the MD in addition they requested that the MD provide $200,000 a year for five years to service that land. CNP proposes that the MD raise their tax rates to cover this cost. I wonder how our residents would feel about us paying more taxes to enable a neighbour to take away one third of our municipality. They mention this interest coming about due to Riversdale and Elan Coal looking at coal deposits, Elan as been sniffing around for at least three to four years anybody hear of them?

The second to last paragraph makes a lot of sense they are telling us to consider that it takes a long time to bring a mine to fruition, not the two to three years that some people have been trying to sell around here. At the end of the letter they talk about being open to discussing revenue sharing down the road with the neighbour communities, very smart on their part remember in my previous post I stated the letter would  be written for both the benefit of the local residents and municipal affairs in Edmonton

Riversdale Presentation

Just got back from the Riversdale presentation, would have been earlier but apparently my invitation got lost in the mail.
Good turnout I would say roughly 100 people, the folks from Riversdale gave a little back ground about themselves, explained why they were here and then answered a few questions. They made it clear that nothing is guaranteed and best case scenario they will start production in 2017 if everything goes perfectly. (Very much in line with my previous comments of 5-10 years).
Either way I do not believe our community can lose, hopefully this will bring some economic activity to our town. Unfortunately it will not increase our tax base due to being in Ranchlands, but the people will live here, put their kids in our schools and spend their money in our local businesses those are good things.
Yes I think these people are here to take advantage of our resources and make lots of money, that is a good thing healthy companies create good jobs.

Note: One comment I found interesting from Mr Dann (Spelling?) was his comments about how he has been coming here for a while and that just a few months prior to purchasing the land he gave the Mayor a courtesy call to see how accepting he felt the community would be about them coming here. Certainly took the bite out of the assumption some people have been making that Mayor and Council have been working on this for a long time and were very instrumental in bringing them here.  

Either way good to see them in our community and hopefully 5-10 years from now the coal industry will return to the Crowsnest Pass.

Riversdale Resources finding the money

From today's Wall Street Journal

Riversdale Hires Macquarie, Nomura to Lead $63.4 Million IPO

By David Winning

Riversdale Resources Pty Ltd. has picked Macquarie and Nomura as lead managers for its around 60 million Australian dollar (US$63.4 million) initial public offering, as management look to repeat their success with Mozambique-focused Riversdale Mining—this time in North America.

Bloomberg News

A bucket wheel reclaimer operates on a coal stockpile site at the Onahama port in Japan.

The Sydney-based company, which is headed by Steve Mallyon and Michael O’Keeffe, hopes to join the Australian Securities Exchange by the end of June and provide investors with exposure to one of the few companies focused on coking coal mining.

Riversdale recently struck its second deal to acquire coal reserves in North America, buying a resource in Canada’s Alberta province estimated at around 400 million tons of metallurgical coal used in steelmaking.

In an interview with Deal Journal Australia earlier this month, Mr. Mallyon said the company was seeking banks with strengths in multiple markets, especially Australia, Asia and North America, to lead the IPO.

“We are happy with the result as it will enable us to secure global distribution particularly in Canada where Macquarie is very strong and also into Asia with Nomura,” Mr. Mallyon said Tuesday.

Funds raised in an IPO would be used partly for the A$47 million acquisition of the Grassy Mountain deposit in Alberta from Consol Energy Inc. CNX +2.48% and Devon Energy Corp. DVN +3.48%, together with some other coal properties nearby.

An IPO would also help pay for a full feasibility study into a mine at Grassy Mountain capable of producing around two million tons of coal a year, broadly split between hard coking coal and pulverized coal injection, or PCI. Grassy Mountain is estimated to have recoverable reserves of around 50 million tons of coal, meaning any mine there could operate for around three decades.

An added attraction is its location around 6 kilometers from a rail line connecting either the Westshore coal export terminals in Vancouver or, further to the north, the Ridley terminals at Prince Rupert.

The acquisition comes almost exactly a year after Riversdale Resources snapped upnearly 10,000 acres of land in Alaska’s Mat-Su Valley containing high-quality bituminous coal after bidding highest in an auction run on behalf of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority.

Work began on the Chickaloon project in Alaska last year-once mined a century ago to supply the U.S. Navy, which needed coal to power their Pacific fleet-and Riversdale hopes to be able to export coal in future to Asian steel mills, likely through nearby Port McKenzie.

Some of the money raised in an IPO would be used to help further the Chickaloon project’s development.

Riversdale has been targeting North American coal assets, in part because it can tap a large labor pool of experienced coal miners stateside. That contrasts with a skills shortage in Australia due to the heavy investment taking place in developing resources such as iron ore, coal and natural gas.

Mr. Mallyon and Mr. O’Keeffe, who is Riversdale Resources’s chairman, are well known to Australian investors for the growth and eventual sale of Mozambique-focused Riversdale Mining to Rio Tinto PLC in 2011 for nearly US$4 billion.

http://blogs.wsj.com/dealjournalaustralia/2013/01/29/riversdale-hires-macquarie-nomura-to-lead-63-4-million-ipo/

G+P meeting update on Fire Master plan, Riversdale and Annexation

For those that have the time and the interest tomorrow afternoon at 2pm the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass Fire and Rescue Service Master Plan, will be presented by Albert Headrick, Director of Protective and Community Services to council. It will be very interesting to see what the results are of the mess that was created in this community in 2012, and all the taxpayers dollars (whether they be Municipal or Provincial they are all tax payers money) that was spent.

Back in the Fall, Bill Kovach President of the Ratepayers Association requested information regarding the Fire Departments he was told at that time by the Mayor that the questions would be answered by the Fire and Rescue Master Plan that administration would be bringing forth prior to Christmas. Well it was on the agenda for today in a surprising turn of events the CAO asked that it be moved to "In Camera" due to some sensitive issues that had to be talked about, he also informed council that it would be coming back to the G+P on Feb 19.

The Mayor also informed Council that Riversdale Resources will be coming to the Pass on Feb 6, to meet with council, media, business leaders and finally the public. I was a little surprised when he asked the rest of council if they have met Riversdale all responded "No".

In other news council was informed that Municipal Affairs will be coming down to meet with them on Feb 13 regarding the road map for annexation, Mayor Decoux suggested that the MD of Ranchlands be invited, then in a very neighborly type fashion he suggested that all the other MD's bordering the MD of Ranchlands be invited. After all he stated we don't want to gobble up all of Ranchlands, I wonder how the MD of Ranchlands will feel about being invited to an all you can eat buffet where they are the main course.

Riversdale Speeds up Australia IPO Plan after Canada Coal Buy

More news on the return of coal mining to the Crowsnest Pass.

http://blogs.wsj.com/dealjournalaustralia/2013/01/11/riversdale-speeds-up-australia-ipo-plan-after-canada-coal-buy/

With the possible return of Coal Mining to the Crowsnest Pass

Now we are all caught up in the possible return of coal mining to the Crowsnest Pass, there will obviously be debate for and against hopefully the public will be provided with all the necessary information to make informed decisions.
I was emailed  the following link today that offers some information on the "New" mine that Centermount Coal Ltd is attempting to develop north of Elkford.
It's from a group know has "kootenay Think Twice"  http://kootenaythinktwice.blogspot.ca/. If anybody on the other side of this issue would like me to post links to their information I would be glad to.

Who is Riversdale Resources?

Who is Riversdale Resources? I have been asked this question by a lot of people already, news travels fast.

So I would recommend that everybody check the following out for themselves, welcome them to the Crowsnest Pass and hope their venture works for all of us:

http://www.gleneaglesecurities.com/ipo/riversdale/documents/Riversdale_Mark_%20II_Presentation.pdf


Note: John Prince did an excellent write up on today's municipal media presentation: http://blog.johnprince.ca/ 

Crowsnest Pass major announcement.

Well the press release is a little late this information has been on the blogs for the last couple of days and the Pass Herald facebook site since Saturday but never the less still good news. For more on this story John Pundyk wrote an excellent article available in both the Pass Herald and the Elk Valley Herald. 

Riversdale Resources Limited Enters Into Agreement to Acquire Coking Coal Development Portfolio in Canada

Riversdale Resources Limited, a public unlisted entity based in Sydney, Australia, has entered into an agreement to acquire a portfolio of coal assets from Devon Energy and Consol Energy located in the Crowsnest Pass area of southwest Alberta, Canada.

The portfolio, comprising over 35,000 acres in total, includes the Grassy Mountain Project located near the towns of Blairmore and Coleman and adjacent to a large capacity rail system already established for coal transport to the existing west coast ports of Westshore Terminal near Vancouver and Ridley near Prince Rupert Sound. Grassy Mountain is an advanced project that has been the subject of substantial exploration and feasibility work including approximately 364 drill holes, two trial pits and a 54,000 tonne bulk sample.  Currently Grassy Mountain has a Canadian 43-101 resource of 192 million tonnes and a reserve of 55 million tonnes although Riversdale sees the potential to expand this further.  Additionally, Grassy Mountain is located in a Category 4 zone under the Alberta Coal Development Policy.

 A earlier feasibility study for Grassy Mountain outlined a open pit development plan to produce approximately 2 million tonnes per annum of both metallurgical and thermal coal over a 28 year life with moderate upfront capital and an FOB cash cost for the first 12 years of US$85 – US$90 per tonne. Riversdale has been working with Norwest Corporation from Calgary, McElroy Bryan from Australia and two recognised Australian based coal quality consultants in undertaking its review of the portfolio. As a result, Riversdale has commenced work to evaluate the potential for a 4 million tonne per annum mine producing primarily a hard coking coal with a secondary PCI product. Riversdale believes such a project will be possible through the use of modern coal mining and washing techniques which have advanced significantly since the earlier feasibility work. 

In addition to Grassy Mountain Riversdale has acquired the Bellevue, Adanac and Lynx coal exploration leases which currently contain an additional 160 million tonnes of estimated resources and an extensive package of freehold land accumulated by the vendors over the past 30 years. The portfolio provides Riversdale an exciting opportunity to look at multiple developments in the region which has a long history of coal mining.

Riversdale has entered into an agreement to acquire the coal properties and freehold land assets for a total of US$ 49.5 million (A$ 47.6 million) payable by the end of June 2013.  Of the total amount, approximately US$35 million (A$ 33.6 million) is attributable to the Grassy Mountain Project. 

The Chairman of Riversdale, Michael O'Keeffe stated "the acquisition of the Crowsnest Pass assets concludes an outstanding first year of exploration and development for our company with a targeted program at our Chickaloon project in Alaska identifying a number of promising coking coal seams. The Crowsnest Pass assets will propel Riversdale into becoming a major force in high quality metallurgical coal production from multiple assets.”

Crowsnest Pass Mayor Bruce Decoux is thrilled with today’s announcement.  “One of this Council’s priorities has been to broaden our economic base and strengthen our local economy.”  The Municipality’s hard work with Riversdale is certain to generate great economic spin off for our community and region,” says Decoux  

Over the last few months Crowsnest Pass Mayor, Council and Administration have been working to support Riversdale and to ensure confidence in the strength and vibrancy of our community.  “We are confident that the support we provided to Riversdale helped pave the way for this initiative to come to fruition” said Decoux.  “We are excited that the Crowsnest Pass will soon be home to a highly reputable international coal mining group and that all citizens in our community will reap benefits,” added Decoux.

Background on Riversdale

Riversdale is an Australian public unlisted company with approximately 70 shareholders. The company was created by the former senior management of Riversdale Mining Limited, an ASX company acquired by Rio Tinto Limited in 2011. Riversdale currently has a 10 year lease over the Chickaloon Coking Coal Project in Alaska and is looking to develop a significant steel making materials business with a focus on high grade metallurgical coal in stable sovereign environments.

The board and senior management of Riversdale comprises:

Michael O'Keeffe (Chairman) - previously Chairman of Riversdale Mining Limited and former Managing Director of Glencore Australia

Steve Mallyon (Managing Director) - previously Managing Director of Riversdale Mining Limited and former Managing Director of RBC Capital Markets Australia

Gary Lawler (Non Executive Director) - former Director of Riversdale Mining Limited and Senior M&A Partner of Ashurst 

Tony Redman (Non Executive Director) - former Director of Riversdale Mining Limited and former Chairman of Anglo American Coal

Anthony Martin (Chief Financial Officer) - former Riversdale Mining Limitada Country Manager (Mozambique)

Russell Dann (President, Riversdale North America) - former Regional Director of Queensland Government Mines and Energy Agency)

 Steve Mallyon.                                          Anthony Martin

Managing Director                                     Chief Financial Officer

A media availability is scheduled for Tuesday, January 8^th between 10 am and 12 noon at the Municipal Administrative offices.  Mayor Bruce Decoux will be available to speak on this announcement.

Steve Mallyon from Riversdale Resources will be available to speak to media via telephone on January 8^th between 2 pm and 5 pm, mountain standard time at +61 407 464 529.

The Municipality will be hosting a welcoming reception in early February at which time  Riversdale Resources representative will be in attendance and available to speak with media.

Coal Mining back in the Crowsnest Pass

I am sure by now most people have read the "Earth Shattering News" on my fellow blogger's site and the follow up story announcing the Consol energy conditional sale to Riversdale Resources of the Grassy Mountain property for $24 million.
http://blog.johnprince.ca/2013/01/consol-energy-in-conditional-sale-of.html

Good news for the Pass? absolutely. Had a big chat about this last night with a number of friends and starting asking questions which led to lots of debate and more questions.

For those that do not know Grassy Mountain, it is just a few kilometers North of the golf course in Blairmore, from what I am told it was an active mine until the late 1950's (If I am making a mistake let me know). The coal rights to this area have been owned for years by Consol Energy out of Pittsburgh.

Who is Consol energy? Big American company based in Pittsburgh which own twelve mines in the Eastern US and is also a big gas producer, apparently they have been having some financial difficulties and have taken a path of selling of non-producing assets. Therefore the sale of their Western Canada assets in late December to Riversdale Resources.
http://www.melodika.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=549642&Itemid=55

Who is Riversdale Resources? Australian company set up in 2011 by two former executives from Riversdale Mining (Michael O'Keeffe and Steve Mallyon) who had sold a large mine in Africa to Rio Tinto. There goal with Riversdale Resources is to develop new projects in North America. 

Does Riversdale Resources operate any mines presently? No, but in early 2012 they did acquire the exploration rights to an area in Alaska  for $3 million for the nearly 10,000-acre Chickaloon coal deposit in the Mat-Su Valley. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/10/australia-riversdale-coal-idUSL3E8CA36220120110

Doing a little research on this property in Alaska came across the following site http://www.castlemountain.org/  notice the name? That leads to one of the other questions thrown around about our area, will the environmentalists react to a proposed mine at Grassy Mountain? I expect there will be a lot of reaction from both environmentalists and recreation users.

How long does it take to get a mine to production? that will depend on the various government regulators,  how aggressive the buyers are,  market demand and how much opposition comes forth.

Looking at other new mines I can think of two examples, over in the Elk Valley we have the Bingay Creek Coal Mine 21km north of Elkford testing in 2006 determined that it had sufficient enough resources to get serious. In 2009 this property was sold to Centermount Coal Ltd which now anticipates starting construction  in 2014 and production in 2016 of one million tonnes a year and going up to two million tonnes a year eventually.
Up at Hinton Coalspur as been actively working in the area since 2009 they are now in the midst of the approval process for what will eventually be one of North America's largest mines they hope to start construction this year and be in production in 2015 starting at one and a half million tonnes a year going up to eventually twelve million tonnes a year.

Timelines from these two projects above, one right next door to us and one in Hinton 5-10 years seems realistic to get to first production.

30 million tonnes does not seem like a lot of coal to be developing a mine? Your right the Bingay creek mine which is planned to max out it's volume at 2 million tonnes a year has reserves of 170 million the Coalspur operation has reserves of 1.7 billion tonnes. That either means that Riversdale is anticipating finding more coal when they do further exploration, or it's going to be a very small low producing mine.

Good thing for the Pass? that remains to be seen we will all get to judge that as the company does it's exploration and reveals it's future plans to the community.  Done right absolutely we need the jobs, the tax base etc.

Will and should the local politicians get all the credit for this? The local politicians role in this issue to this point will be at most a few shaken hands and we would love to see you in our community statements. The local role will increase when and if this project unfolds.
Up to now this is all about a market place (met coal) that is anticipated to be strong for the foreseeable future, a new Australian company that is attempting to acquire coal assets in North America. Because of that strong coal market and an industry that measures profits by the billions these kinds of acquisitions are very common right now.