Bathurst, which operates small-scale coal operations on the Denniston Plateau above Westport, had been looking at several ways of moving bulk coal down from the the steep plateau to trucks and railing for transport, including a conveyor belt option and another using buckets.
Bathurst wants to mine up to three million tonnes of export-quality hard coking coal per year from the plateau, which environmentalists want to see protected for its significant indigenous flora and fauna.
Bathurst faces increasing delays to its project as it responds to multiple court challenges from environmentalists over its consents, which were issued by two West Coast councils in 2011.
Last September, Scott said it was considering buying West Australian company Integrated Conveyor Systems Ltd (ICSL), for less than $A500,000 ($NZ587,000).
ICSL had been testing the conveyer belt system with an Australian company, and was reported to have attracted Bathurst's attention. In May last year, Bathurst released an update on the potential for using buckets or a conveyor belt system (pictured).
Scott Technology chairman Stuart McLauchlan said the due diligence period with ICSL was almost over, but in its present form ICSL had not met Scott's investment criteria and Scott had advised the company it was dropping its option to buy.
Bathurst managing director Hamish Bohannan yesterday updated the market on the company's legal problems, noting an appeal period had lapsed over a High Court decision covering the ''interim Environment Court decision'', which Forest and Bird had appealed on three points of law.
The High Court had dismissed the points and referred two others to a June hearing of the Environment Court, which had been considered, but for which there was ''no further avenue for appeal'', Mr Bohannan said.
In June, Forest and Bird applied to the High Court for leave to appeal an earlier decision on the proposed Sullivan mining area. Bathurst is awaiting a Supreme Court decision on a final appeal over whether global climate issues should be heard during consent hearings. An Environment Court decision is also due on the granting of resource consents, after a hearing last month.
