- Region: Oceania
- Energy and Natural Resources
- Overseas Investment Loans
May 16, 2013
- The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC; Governor: Hiroshi Okuda) signed today a loan agreement amounting up to 350 million U.S. dollars (JBIC portion) with Idemitsu Australia Resources Pty Ltd (IAR), an Australian subsidiary of Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. (Idemitsu). The loan is co-financed with private financial institutions, which brings the overall co-financing amount to 500 million U.S. dollars.
- The loan is intended to finance IAR for the expansion of the Boggabri Coal Mine located in the northern Gunnedah Basin in New South Wales, Australia. Idemitsu already has 100% ownership of Boggabri Coal Mine through an Australian subsidiary, and operates and develops the mine by itself. The production of thermal coal from Boggabri Coal Mine is 3.8 million ton per annum in results of year 2012 and is expected to increase to 6.9 million ton per annum with this expansion from the year 2015. Also, by building a new coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP), it becomes possible to stably produce the coking coal used by steel mills.
- The thermal coal from Boggabri Coal Mine is highly appreciated by Japanese electric power companies due to its high quality and has been sold to Japan for a long time. Also, going forward, the certain amount of coking coal increased in production from this expansion is expected to be supplied to Japanese steel mills. Thus, this project, in which involves a Japanese company operating and developing the coal mine and supplying coal to Japanese electric power companies and steel mills, has major significance in securing a stable supply of mineral and energy resources to Japan.
- JBIC will actively support further development and acquisition of mineral and energy resources by Japanese companies.