Coalspur Mines Limited - Study Increases Vista Production Capacity to 12.0 MTPA

09:29 AEST Apr 26, 2012 ABN Newswire (C) 2004-2012 Asia Business News PL. All Rights Reserved.

Sydney, Australia (ABN Newswire) - Coalspur Mines Limited (ASX: CPL) (TSE: CPT) is pleased to announce that the annual marketable coal production capacity from the Vista Coal Project ('Vista') has increased by 7% to 12.0 million tonnes per annum ('Mtpa'). The increased production rate is the result of an optimization study on the coal processing plant ('CPP') and mine scheduling and follows a feasibility study on Vista which was published on January 30, 2012.

The optimization study was completed by CPG Resources - QCC Pty Ltd ('CPG') as part of the ongoing engineering work on Vista. CPG was responsible for the processing plant and thermal dryer design components of the recently completed Vista feasibility study. The optimization study included an analysis of the relationship between the clean coal production potential from Vista compared to the annual plant operating hours. The study concluded that the CPP is capable of operating at 7,320 hours per year (83.6% net effective utilization) as compared to 6,835 hours per year (78.0% net effective utilization) which was estimated in the feasibility study. The increase in operating hours is possible through enhanced scheduling between mining operations and the CPP and an optimized maintenance program.

Commenting on the increase in production capacity, Managing Director and CEO, Gene Wusaty said 'The results of the optimization study reflects Vista's status as a world-class, Tier one mining project that will be a strategic supplier of thermal coal to the Asian markets. The increased production rate further enhances the economics of Vista as it will require a minimal amount of capital investment and will decrease ongoing operating costs. As we progress to construction we will evaluate additional optimization opportunities to maximize the value of Vista.'


Enhanced Economics

The increase in annual production will enhance the economics on Vista. A summary of the optimized production schedule can be found in the full announcement link at the bottom of release.

To view the complete Coalspur Mines announcement including all data and figures, please refer to the following link below: here:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-CPL-586833.pdf


About Coalspur Mines Limited:

Coalspur Mines Limited ('Coalspur' or 'Company') is a coal exploration and development company with approximately 40,600 hectares of coal leases located within the Hinton region of Alberta, Canada. Coalspur’s flagship coal project is the Vista Coal Project (“Vista”) which has the potential to be the largest export thermal coal mine in Canada.
Vista covers approximately 9,984 hectares and provides a large scale, surface mineable, thermal coal project. Vista has the advantage of leveraging off of established first world infrastructure with CN Rail’s main line located adjacent to Vista which is substantially underutilised and provides a rail line suitable for the transport of coal to deepwater ports on Canada’s west coast. Coalspur has also secured a port allocation agreement with Ridley Terminals Inc. which is essential to the logics supply chain necessary to export coal from Vista to the growing demand from the Asia Pacific Rim countries, including China, Japan, and Korea.

A feasibility study was completed on Vista in January 2012, which defined a 30 year mine plan with forecast annual production capacity of 11.2Mtpa. Marketable Coal Reserves on Vista are 313Mt from a Recoverable Coal Reserve of approximately 566Mt. Initial development costs for Vista are expected to be approximately C$860 million with an additional approximately C$370 million required to reach full capacity.

Coalspur has offices in Calgary and Hinton in Canada as well as in Australia. The Company is dual listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange ('TSX') under the symbol 'CPT' and on the Australian Securities Exchange ('ASX') under the symbol 'CPL'.



Contact:

Coalspur Mines Limited
T: +61-8-9322-6322
F: +61-8-9322-6558
WWW: www.coalspur.com