1.2.3.1.9 Ferndale Project

Loyal Coal Pty Ltd and Yarrawa Coal Pty Ltd (each 100% owned subsidiaries of Coalworks Limited (Coalworks)) originally co-owned (50%) the Ferndale Project with joint venture partner Boardwalk Ferndale Pty Ltd. In 2014, Whitehaven Coal Limited (Whitehaven Coal) acquired Boardwalk Ferndale Pty Ltd. On 17 February 2012, Coalworks announced an inferred resource in EL 7430 of 743 Mt of bituminous coal (Coalworks Limited, 2012, p. 1). Of this, 443 Mt has been identified within the Newcastle Coal Measures at depths amenable to open-cut mining to a maximum depth of 250 m below surface (Whitehaven Coal Limited, 2014, p. 4; Coalworks Limited, 2012, p. 1). A further 300 Mt of coal is inferred within the deeper Wittingham Coal Measures with underground mining potential (Coalworks Limited, 2012, p. 1) to a maximum depth of 500 m (Whitehaven Coal Limited, 2014, p. 4). The project will target thermal coal from the open-cut mine and semi-soft coking coal from the underground operation.

EL 7430 expired on 17 December 2014 (Whitehaven Coal Limited, 2014) and the status of its renewal, the EIS and therefore the continuation of this project is unclear (7 January, 2015).