Specialist West Coast hard-coking coal operator Pike River Coal expects its first shipment of 20,000 tonnes of coal - worth about $3.4 million - to be exported from Lyttelton next month.
It is now 19 months since Pike River was first due to supply its inaugural contracted coking coal exports, but mine development in the Paparoa Range was stalled by a ventilation shaft collapse, subsequent remedial work and crossing a fault line, which had all slowed progress and repeatedly moved out production dates.
Because of the compounding delays, Pike River offered and achieved a fully subscribed rights issues of $41 million in April and is again considering another issue and debt raising in February for $20 million, to supply more working capital, having spent $288 million to date.
Pike stock was down 4.7% after the announcement, trading at about $1.
A second coal shipment of 40,000 tonnes is scheduled for April, the company said in a statement yesterday.
