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Company Information for Riversdale Mining Ltd

Company stock charts - 12 Month chart

Exchange ASX; RIV


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Company Statement

Riversdale Mining Limited is a mining company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange under the ASX code RIV. The Company intends to develop as a diversified mining finance house, focused on growth through investment in suitable mining opportunities. It is the company’s intention to assemble a portfolio of suitable assets through rapid growth for the benefit of all our shareholders, and emerge as a diversified mid-tier mining house with excellent returns on shareholder funds, a strong orientation to growth, and a pipeline of projects.


Current Operations

Zululand Anthracite Colliery (ZAC)
On 1 December 2005 Riversdale completed the acquisition of 74% in ZAC, an operating underground anthracite mine located in the Zululand coalfield of northern Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa.

Geological Setting
ZAC is located within the Zululand coalfield of northern Kwa-Zulu Natal. The Zululand coalfield can be described as structurally complex, due in part to coal deposition within a graben structure where active rifting and down-warping took place. The active rifting and subsidence resulted in thick sedimentation and high geothermal gradients, which, in turn, produced an anthracite deposit where regional heat and pressure played a major role in the anthracitation process.

This contrasts with many other anthracite deposits located in Kwa-Zulu Natal where the anthracitation process is directly related to proximity to post depositional dolerite sills. Coal quality and yield distributions at ZAC are in general more uniform as opposed to anthracite developed in other Kwa-Zulu Natal coalfields due to the anthracitation process being influenced by regional heat and stress conditions and not dependant on proximity to dolerite sills. This structural feature has rendered ZAC anthracite as the only true anthracite in South Africa (as distinct from semi anthracites) with a low volatile content of typically 5% on an air dry basis, with high vitrinite content which allows this coal to be used in high value niche markets.

The unstable tectonic conditions in the vicinity of ZAC produced a number of recognisable coarsening up sequences that have been separated into distinct zones by mine geologists from observation of the borehole record. Numerous small coal seams are developed within these coarsening upward cycles, but only the Main Seam attains a thickness of more than 0.8 m. The ZAC Main Seam coal deposit has been broken up into the Kwa-Sheleza, Ngwabe, Mgeni and Maye mining blocks by north-south trending faults with displacements in excess of 100m. The Kwa-Sheleza mining block is, in turn, divided into the Sheleza North, Sheleza Deep and Sheleza Shallow blocks by a northwest-southeast trending graben with displacements of approximately 140 m on the bounding faults. Many of the fault displacements have dolerite dykes that have exploited the weakened country rock fabric. Within the fault bounded resources areas, the Main Seam can be found at both subcrop and to more than 200m depth with increasing surface elevations from south to north.

Operations
ZAC's underground mining operations use the bord-and pillar method, to be followed by stooping on retreat. A fleet of mining equipment allows flexibility for operating in different seam thicknesses is utilized, with a combination of road-headers and continuous miners supported by scoops and shuttle cars as appropriate. ROM (Run of Mine) Coal is transported by road truck to the coal treatment facilities which are capable of treating up to 90,000mt per month - the significant unutilised capacity allows ZAC great scope for economic expansions of throughput. Coal is trucked to a tipping site, and fed into a MacNally crusher to segregate stone from the raw coal, before being fed into a circuit of cyclone and drum washing facilities. A spiral plant assists the recovery of fine coal into the middlings stream as a saleable product.

Other Exploration:
Ngwabe Block - The Ngwabe potential resource area is located between the Kwa-Sheleza and Mngeni reserve areas in a perceived down faulted graben structure.

Exploration success at ZAC has resulted in an increase in the Coal Reserves to 11.41 million tonnes at 30 June 2007 (30 June 2006: 8.01 million tonnes). A significant potential resource has been identified in the form of the Ngwabe Block. 
Exploration drilling is being undertaken in the Ngwabe Block and the main seam has been broadly delineated at depths ranging from 200 to 450 meters. 
The developments are highly promising and suggest that a considerably larger mine can be established at ZAC over a 3-5 year period, with a substantially longer mine life, that will fully utilise the current unutilised washing plant capacity.

Mozambique Coal Project
The Company became a leading coal enterprise in a major emerging coal region following an agreement to acquire the following exploration tenements in Mozambique:

  • 16 coal bearing tenements covering an area of 203,460 hectares located in the Lower Zambezi Coal Basin were acquired during October 2006.
  • 7 tenements covering an area of 86,620 hectares located in the Tete province were acquired during August 2007. These tenements are contiguous with tenements already held by Riversdale and those held by one of the world’s largest mining groups, Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD).

Based on the initial washability analysis results, the potential coal products, after beneficiation, which could be produced from Benga include:
- An export hard coking coal at 10% ash
- A secondary thermal coal product, consisting of an export thermal coal (approximately 20% ash) and/or a domestic thermal coal (approximately 35% ash).

The combined tenement size now held by Riversdale is in excess of 290,000 hectares and positions the Company as the largest tenement holder in the Tete-Moatize area, with an extensive area capable of supporting long life operations in this emerging and highly prospective region. The region is within economic reach of the East African coast, with access to the port of Beira by means of a railway line from Moatize that is being rehabilitated.  The railway line is scheduled to be operational from mid 2009.

An initial indicated coal resources of 53.3 million run of mine tonnes has been identified in two distinct areas with open-pit potential. The resource is contained in the northern part of the Benga Licence, where drilling has been concentrated.


Geographical Spread

Listed on the Australian Stock Exchange with its head office in Sydney, the Company is currently focused on developing mineral assets in southern Africa - including anthracite coal resources in South Africa, and coking and thermal coal prospects in Mozambique.


Board of Directors and Key Management

Directors

Mr William Michael O'Keeffe Chief Executive Officer and Chairman
Mr Niall Lenahan Finance Director and Company Secretary
Mr Richard Potts Non Executive Director
Mr Andrew Love Non Executive Director
Mr Steve Mallyon Managing Director

Senior Management

Jim Coleman Project Development Manager: South Africa
Peet Snyders Operations: South Africa
Steve Thomas Finance: South Africa
Sydney Parkhouse Operations: Mozambique
Roshnee Bardien Group General Manager Human Resources and Industrial Relations

Company Address

Registered Office and Place of Business, Level 1
Margaret Street
Sydney NSW, Australia 2000

Telephone:+61 2 8299 7900
Facsimile:+61 2 8299 7999
Email:Phoebe[at]rivmining.com.au
Website:http://www.riversdalemining.com.au

Additional Address/Key Contact

Postal Address
GPO Box 5371
Sydney NSW 2001

Capital

154.1 million shares
23.5 million options

Annual General Meeting

October

Year End

30 June

Nominated Brokers

Hartleys Limited

Nominated Advisors

John Georgiades

Broker/Analyst Reports

14/05/07 - Hartleys

Major Shareholders

Citicorp Nominees Pty Limited
RBC Dexia Investor Services Australia Nominees Pty Limited
National Nominees Limited
ANZ Nominees Limited
Westpac Custodian Nominees Limited
Sumitomo Corporation

Related News

03/09/08 - Riversdale’s Two Billion Dollar Market Cap Begins To Put It On The Coal Mining Map In Southern Africa
11/02/08 - “The Riversdale Romp”, Or: What Happens When Government Meets Business In Africa
29/11/07 - Riversdale Strikes It Rich In Mozambique
10/07/07 - Riversdale Mining Has a Big Coal Opportunity in Mozambique
20/12/06 - Riversdale Mining Follows Two Pronged Approach

Most Recent Statement

19/09/08 - Annual Report to shareholders
19/09/08 - Notice of Annual General Meeting/Proxy Form
10/09/08 - Coal Resource in Mozambique upgraded to 2.1 billion tonnes
04/09/08 - Change of Director`s Interest Notice
01/09/08 - Riversdale Mining [ASX: RIV] - Two key initiatives to progress the Mozambique Coal Project
01/09/08 - Corporate Presentation

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