Australia's Pembroke wins government approval for $700 milllion coking coal mine

Privately held Pembroke Resources won approval from Australia's Queensland state to develop a $700 million coking coal mine on May 14, as it pushes to tap strong demand for the steelmaking ingredient in Asia.

Construction is due to start next year, with the company looking to begin negotiating contracts soon for supplies of coal from the mine, Chief Executive Barry Tudor told Reuters.

"In developing the mine, our preferred course is to obtain some project finance. And as a component .. we anticipate we will need to put in place some offtake agreements," he said.

"We haven't entered into any offtake or supply agreements yet. We got an approval today, so we can advance those discussions in a more tangible way now."

Pembroke has been talking to potential customers in Japan, South Korea and India, and is also open to selling a stake in the mine that will eventually produce 15 million tonnes of nigh-quality coking coal a year out of the state's developed Bowen Basin.

Tudor said Pembroke had seen a lot of "inbound interest" in the project and that he saw advantages in selling a stake.

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