Qld coal mines rumoured to be exited soon

Two major mines could be under new management within just months.

The next coal operations to be exited are widely speculated to be EMR Capital’s Kestrel mine (51km northeast of Emerald) and Pembroke Resources’ Olive Downs Project (40km southeast of Moranbah).

Mainstream media predicted Kestrel could be on the market in as little as a year while Olive Downs may be up for sale anytime soon.

“The talk is that the private equity firm [EMR] may wait a year to 18 months to bring the [Kestrel] asset to market … [and] a sale is expected at some stage given that EMR Capital, run by Owen Hegarty, is a fund and its job is to buy and sell assets,” News Limited reported.

“A sale could also soon happen for Pembroke Resources’ Olive Downs in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, which can deliver up to 20 million tonnes of coal per annum.”

The remarks came after South 32 approved a binding agreement to sell Illawarra Metallurgical Coal for US$1.65 billion (A$2.53B) to part of M Resources and Golden Energy and Resources.

The deal involves divesting the Appin and Dendrobium coal mines for US$1.05B (A$1.6B) of upfront cash, US$250M (A$384.7M) of funds deferred to 2030, and US$350M (A$538.6M) of contingent price-linked money.

If the Foreign Investment Review Board and regulatory bodies also approve, the transaction is expected to close during the second half of fiscal 2025.

Kestrel previously advertised up to 143 employee-occupied properties in downtown Emerald. The dwellings, comprising of “quality houses and unit blocks”, cover a combined 6.7 hectares. They are promised to generate $1.7M in annual passive income, and fetch an estimated $25M purchase price.

The buildings were originally constructed to house employees from the old Gordonstone mine back in the late 1980s to early 1990s. Some Kestrel workers still lived on the premises at the time of publication.