Bathurst Resources

Bathurst Resources Limited (Bathurst) is an overseas ASIC company (ACN no 125679469), which was registered with the New Zealand Companies Office (no 3197550) on the 16 Nov 2010. The company is listed on both the Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges. Bathurst has set up a number of New Zealand companies and operates two mines in the South Island. In 2013 Bathurst decided to redomicile in New Zealand and on 27 March Bathurst Resources (New Zealand) Limited (no 4382538) became incorporated and registered with the Companies Office.

Bathurst’s plans to mine the Denniston Plateau, north of Westport on the West Coast of the South Island, have led to a long-running battle with environmentalists. During the first half of 2013, while awaiting the outcome of the legal challenges to these plans, Bathurst has continued to expand the scope of its mining interests in New Zealand. New coal mining exploration permits have recently been obtained for areas in Canterbury, Otago, the West Coast, Tasman and Waikato. In addition, a mineral prospecting permit has been granted to Bathurst for an area of 328.8 sq km on the West Coast.

Early history
Bathurst Resources was incorporated in May 2007, floated on the Australian Stock Exchange in January 2008 and listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in 2010. The company’s initial interest was in the Western Australian Mount Clifford nickel, base metal and gold project but it withdrew from this project in October 2008 in order to concentrate on Kentucky Coal projects that it had acquired from C & R Holdings. This involvement was also short-lived as the acquisition was cancelled in November 2009 and the company was left without any significant producing coal projects, a cash flow crunch and an uncertain future.

L&M Coal Limited
Bathurst first focused on the New Zealand Buller coalfield assets of L&M Coal Limited. An initial joint venture was followed by 100 per cent acquisition of L&M Coal Ltd in Nov 2010. The company was renamed Buller Coal Holdings Limited, and eventually Buller Coal Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bathurst. Payments would be made in stages based on set project milestones, most of which haven’t yet been met. L&M would be entitled to performance payments totaling US$80M once 1.025 million tonnes (Mt) of coal had been shipped, and to a 1.75% royalty on gross coal revenue over the life of the Escarpment mine on the Denniston plateau.

Eastern Resources Group
In March 2011 Bathurst paid AUD 35 million to acquire Eastern Resources Group, a subsidiary of Brisbane-based Galilee Energy, to give Bathurst control of two operating South Island open cut coal mines -- the Takitimu mine (sub-bituminous coal) near Nightcaps in Southland and the Cascade mine (hard coking coal) on the Buller plateau near the West Coast town of Westport. The company stated that the purchase of Eastern Resources Group also included the prospective Whareatea West project, adjacent to Bathurst’s Escarpment block on the Buller plateau.

In March 2011 Bathurst paid AU$ 35m to acquire Eastern Resources Group, a subsidiary of Brisbane-based Galilee Energy, in order to gain control of two operating South Island opencast coal mines – the Takitimu mine (sub-bituminous coal) near Nightcaps in Southland and the Cascade mine (hard coking coal) on the Buller plateau near the West Coast town of Westport. The company stated that the purchase of Eastern Resources Group also included the prospective Whareatea West project, adjacent to the Escarpment block.

The Bathurst Group
Company structure in 2013 Bathurst Resources Limited
 * Buller Coal Limited
 * Bathurst Coal Limited
 * Eastern Coal Limited
 * Cascade Coal Limited
 * Takitimu Coal Limited
 * Rochfort Coal Limited
 * New Brighton Collieries Limited (?)

The companies
Bathurst Coal owns Eastern Coal.

Buller Coal holds mining permits for Cascade Creek. The company also holds extensive coal exploration permits on the West Coast. According to Bathurst’s website, Buller Coal owns and operates all of Bathurst’s operations on the Buller coal field, including 10,000 hectares of exploration and mining permits, the planned Escarpment project and the operating Cascade mine on the edge of the Denniston Plateau.

Cascade Coal operates the Cascade mine, an opencast bituminous coal mine near Denniston. It produces modest amounts of semi-soft coking coal, mainly for a local cement works, although there has also been an export shipment through Port Taranaki and one via the Port of Lyttleton. In the year ending June 2012 the mine produced 59.3 kilotonnes (kt) of coal but Bathurst states that production is now “ramping up to 150 kt per annum. . . targeting the export market.” The company has been granted an “Extension of Land” to include an area of additional resource adjacent to the mine.

Eastern Coal owns Cascade Coal, Takitimu Coal and Rochfort Coal.

New Brighton Collieries (NBC), owned by L&M Coal Holdings, has as its principal asset an exploration permit (40625) covering 685.3 ha of land 5 km from Bathurst’s Takitimu mine in Southland. It is unclear whether Bathurst has acquired NBC or just the New Brighton Exploration Permit.

Rochfort Coal holds prospecting and/or exploration permits in Southland, Canterbury and the West Coast. These include an exploration permit (No 54846) issued on 05 March 2013 for Albury, an 836 sq km area in the McKenzie District of South Canterbury, running from the Two Thumb Range south to the Hunters Hills. On 03 April 2013 the company was granted a 5-year, 2374 ha exploration permit (No 54933) for the Home Hills area in Central Otago.

Takitimu Coal operates Takitimu opencast mine in Southland, which produces sub-bituminous thermal coal, mainly for the domestic industrial market. In the year ended 30 June 2012 the mine produced 148 kt of coal. As the mine becomes exhausted it is being extended into newly purchased land on the nearby Coaldale block. Bathurst expects that this acquisition, which will remove the need to pay royalties to the former owner of the land, will improve its cash flows and will see the production of 2 million tonnes (Mt) of sub-bituminous coal. Resource consent was granted for the extension in July 2011 with approval for a 24 hour/7 day a week operation if required. A NZ contractor, Stevenson Mining Ltd, was awarded the contract to develop the Coaldale block and employed 40 staff at the mine until Oct 2012 when it was announced that eight workers would lose their jobs. The mine had a write-down of $6.4 million in 2012. Bathurst plans a long term expansion into the high quality Black Diamond zone adjacent to the Coaldale Block.

Bathurst Resources New Zealand
Although Bathurst opened its Wellington Office in March 2012 it remained an Australian-based company until 2013 when it announced its intention to redomicile in New Zealand. Current Bathurst shareholders were to be offered one share in Bathurst NZ for each existing share that they held in Bathurst Resources. As of 12 April the four Bathurst NZ directors listed with the New Zealand Companies Office were all Australian based, including Hamish Bohannan who owns the single share that has so far been issued in the company. Bathurst New Zealand would become the new ultimate parent company of the group and the company intended to raise funds and equity in New Zealand as part of its development plans. According to Bathurst’s statement on the Company Announcements Platform of the Australian Securities Exchange: “The Proposed Restructure will not result in any changes to the management, operations, or strategy of the Bathurst Group.”

Eastern Coal
Eastern Coal, Bathurst’s Southland-based subsidiary, is concentrated on the domestic market. Eastern Coal subsidiary, Takitimu Coal, operates the opencast Takitimu thermal coal mine in Southland and is developing the Coaldale mine nearby. Another subsidiary, Rochfort Coal, holds the Ohai exploration permit no 51260 and in March 2013 acquired the 658.4 ha Ohai exploration permit no 40625 from New Brighton Collieries (owned by L&M Coal Holdings). L&M Energy had previously carried out a Coal Seam Gas pilot project in the Ohai Coal Seam, but with disappointing results. Rochfort also holds exploration permits in South Canterbury and South Otago. Eastern Coal is looking at export opportunities for its coal, using existing infrastructure at Southport. Subsidiary, Eastern Coal Supplies, located at Timaru on the east coast operates as a blending and distribution centre for coal from Bathurst’s West Coast and Southland mines.

Buller Coal
The Buller Coking Coal Project is Bathurst’s flagship. (The Buller region on the West Coast of the South Island accounts for about half of New Zealand’s coking coal.) Shortly after the acquisition of the coal exploration licences from L&M, Bathurst began a drilling programme to investigate the resources. The company appointed US mining consultant, Marston International, to conduct a feasibility study for a one million tonne per year (1 mtpa) mine producing predominantly high quality coking coal. The exploration drilling program, the company stated, was aimed at proving a resource to support a 5-7 year mine life for the 1mtpa Escarpment mine and further delineating other deposits within the lease areas to enable a 20–30 year project. Bathurst later stated that the production for the total project would be 2 mtpa once further deposits such as Coalbrookdale, Deep Creek or Whareatea West were brought into production. The Directors’ Report in Bathurst’s 2012 Annual Financial Statement stated, however, that the project was targeting a 4 mtpa production profile by 2018.

The Buller Project has a portfolio that includes near-surface coal deposits and opencast mining access; an existing underground mine; plus extensive exploration prospects that largely surround Solid Energy’s Stockton opencast mining operation. Bathurst’s exploration and mining permits cover 10,000 ha on the Buller Coalfield. The scope of Bathurst’s interests – operational, subject to consent applications, and prospective – can be seen in this map, presented to investors: Although at this stage the major focus is on the Denniston plateau in South Buller, Escarpment would be just the first of the eight or so mines planned for the massive project. North Buller has been subject to a scoping study, the results of which were still being analysed by Bathurst in July 2012. Drilling has been concentrated in the Seddonville area, mainly on land held by the Ngai Tahu Forest Estates Ltd. The company is also applying for an Access Arrangement to drill in areas held by the Department of Conservation. The company stated that it aimed to bring the first North Buller permits into production in late 2016.

In 2012 the company described the current focus of the Buller Coal Project as being on:
 * Escarpment Mine Project – going through the appeal process
 * Cascade Coal opencast mine – plans to increase production
 * Coalbrookdale consented underground mine – the company has announced plans to apply to vary the consent to include opencast mining
 * Whareatea West – important prospective exploration permit

Bathurst has also undertaken a programme to upgrade infrastructure. A new coal storage shed has been completed at Westport Port as part of a $30 m project and storage facilities have also been improved at the deep water port of Taranaki from where it is planned to export coal.

Buller Coal’s General Manager, Marianne Rogers, was New Zealand’s first female graduate mining engineer. She took a redundancy package from the company in April 2013 at which time responsibility for the Project came directly under Chief Operating Officer, Richard Tacon.

The Denniston Plateau – a special place
The Buller Project is adamantly opposed by environmental groups not only because of the increased greenhouse gas emissions it will cause but also because of the damage it will do to a unique coal measure ecosystem on the Denniston Plateau, which is an area of extraordinary biodiversity with many species still not discovered or described. Ecologist, Sir Alan Mark, and wildlife photographer, Rod Morris, refuted the claims of Bathurst CEO, Hamish Bohannan, that the impact of mining would be temporary. They stated that, “Even the most successful attempts at restoration of native ecosystems can only be described as pathetic. The transplanting of the commonest plants such as red tussock and manuka does not restore the native plant communities and their fauna." Landscape architect, Chris Glasson, has produced a Landscape Assessment for the Escarpment Mine Proposal, which makes it possible to visually assess the impact of mining activities and infrastructure on the environment.

Escarpment – the legal history
2003 Due to low coal prices, Solid Energy left vacant the rights to Exploration Permit no 40628, which now forms the basis of the Buller Coal Project. L&M Holdings, a privately based Christchurch company, applied for this permit.

2005 L&M Coal was granted Permit No 40628, which covers 18,740 ha from the Denniston sector, north past Solid Energy’s Stockton mine and back down to the east of the plateau.

Oct 2008 L&M Group chairman Geoff Louden announced that L&M Coal was preparing a mining application for an escarpment block estimated to contain 5 mt of coal. L&M Coal had also applied for additional exploration ground adjacent to the existing permit.

Dec 2008 Applications for resource consents and concessions for the Escarpment Mine were lodged by Bathurst Resources Limited (Bathurst), which had joined L&M Coal Limited (L&M Coal) in a joint venture partnership for the Escarpment Mine Project. These applications were lodged with the Buller District Council, West Coast Regional Council and Department of Conservation (DOC) but were then placed on hold pending further investigation by L&M Coal of the methodology for processing and transporting coal off the Plateau.

June 2010 An archaeological report was produced in response to DOC’s request that further information be supplied by L&M Coal Ltd who were proposing to rework parts of the underground Escarpment and Whareatea mines (closed in the 1980s) using opencast mining methods. The mines are on public conservation land administered by DOC.

Aug 2010 A vegetation and flora assessment for the Coal Processing and Transport Facilities L&M Coal Escarpment Mine Project (EMP) made reference to an additional 33.2 ha of “bench” areas on which the spoil would be deposited outside the permit areas. These bench areas are relatively undisturbed, have moderate–high ecological significance, contain eight distinct vegetation communities and are protected as conservation land.

2 Sep 2010 Sixteen resource consent applications were lodged in the name of L&M Coal Limited with the West Coast Regional Council and eight with the Buller District Council for the proposed EMP. L&M Coal applied to mine 6.1 Mt of run of mine (ROM) coal to produce 4.1 Mt of saleable coal over 5-12 years. The Councils publicly notified the applications and invited submissions. The applications were opposed by the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Incorporated (West Coast Branch and Central Office), West Coast Environment Network, Whareatea residents and individuals. Submissions made reference to issues such as the contribution of coal emissions to climate change; the degradation and loss of an intact, historically rare and nationally important ecosystem; negative effects on indigenous, threatened and endemic species; negative effects on wetlands and water bodies; and loss of public access.

Oct 2010 Bathurst indicated that the company was intending to have mining and environmental consents in place for the Escarpment mine by the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2010, and mining to start by Q4 2011.

9 Nov 2010 Bathurst Resources Limited acquired L&M Coal Limited, which was eventually renamed as Buller Coal Limited.

7 June 2011 The regional council hearing was held by an independent panel of commissioners representing the West Coast Regional Council and the Buller District Council. [C1]

26 Aug 2011 The commissioners released their decision to grant consents for Escarpment. The 200-page decision included the view that, "From the evidence presented to us, it is abundantly clear that large scale mining is poised to invade the Denniston Plateau coal reserves which if unchecked, will totally destroy the ecosystems that are present." This conclusion was reached even in the absence of the Department of Conservation who did not attend the hearing. Bathurst would need the approval of the Department for an access arrangement for the mine pit and a concession for a coal processing plant. Appeals against the consents were lodged by the Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Incorporated (Forest & Bird), West Coast Environmental Network Incorporated (WCENT), and Fairdown-Whareatea Residents’ Association Incorporated (Residents). One issue was that the commissioners refused to consider the climate change impact of the mine.

In Bathurst’s Managing Director’s report to the 2011 AGM it was stated that the DOC Consent that was required to mine was expected in Q4 2011, and the DOC Concession required to construct a coal processing plant was expected in Q1 2012. Targetted initial production of the mine was 650 ktpa increasing to 1 mtpa.

Dec 2011 Bathurst entered into mediation with the Residents and produced a revised plan for Escarpment, which addressed their concerns by such amendments as an aerial system of coal transportation.

19 Dec 2011 Kate Wilkinson, then Minister for Conservation, stated in a letter to the Otago Daily Times, “Should Doc intend to grant the concession application, then it will be put out for public consultation before a final decision is made.”

21 March 2012 Whilst appeals were still underway, Prime Minister John Key expressed his support for Bathurst by opening the company's Wellington office. Two hundred people protested at the event, arguing that this was inappropriate.

In its June 2012 newsletter “Stoked” Bathurst commented on how the Prime Minister had “reinforced his support for organizations that are providing much needed jobs while carefully managing environmental impacts.” However, Mr Key had some comfort for environmentalists when he confirmed that New Zealanders would get a say in the access approval by the Department of Conservation. “Business Day” reported him as saying, "This is going to be a notified access agreement for the Denniston plateau so there is no hiding away from that."

27 March 2012 A hearing was held in the Environment Court to consider the declaratory judgement sought by both Buller Coal and the opponents – WCENT and Forest & Bird – on whether the court should or could consider climate change under the Resource Management Act (RMA). The case revolved around the meaning of a 2004 amendment to the Act.

27 April 2012 The Residents withdrew their appeal and published a letter confirming their full support of the project.

30 April 2012 The Court granted the declaration sought by Bathurst that, in considering applications for consent for the Escarpment project, the Court could not have any regard to the effects on climate change of discharges into the air of greenhouse gases. This declaration was appealed by Forest & Bird and WCENT.

4 May 2012 Bathurst’s chief operating officer Richard Tacon told “Business Day” that Bathurst was exploring the possibility of becoming the second company to use the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) new consenting process for fast-tracking applications by declaring them matters of “national significance”.

18 July 2012 It was announced that Bathurst had failed in its bid to overleap the High Court and go straight to the Court of Appeal on the issue of whether climate change aspects should be considered in the granting of consents.

30 July 2012 The climate change appeal was heard by the High Court.

24 Aug 2012 The decision from the High Court upheld the previous Environment Court decision that found climate change considerations cannot be applied in the granting of localised resource consents.

08 Sep 2012 Mr Bohannan told “The Nation” that Energy and Resources Minister Phil Heatley had reassured the mining industry that the government was “working on” making it easier for mining to go ahead.

11 Sep 2012 Bathurst announced to the Australian Stock Exchange that WCENT had lodged an appeal in the Court of Appeal against the High Court’s decision to uphold the climate change declaration made by the Environment Court in April 2012.

13 Sep 2012 Hamish Bohannan told the New Zealand Herald that the hurdles resource companies faced were "daunting" and they needed “deep pockets” to get over them. Bathurst had stated there was a never-ending loop of appeals against resource projects and its own plan was now 18 months behind schedule.

26 Sep 2012 In the wake of Solid Energy’s closure of the uneconomic Spring Creek Mine, Minister of Economic Development Steven Joyce called for environmental organisations to drop their opposition to the Escarpment mine in order that more mining jobs could be created.

29 Oct–18 Dec 2012 Forest & Bird’s appeal to the Environment Court to overturn the consent was heard. One of the issues raised was that a condition of Escarpment's consents was carrying out pest and predator control within a 396 ha area for a minimum of 35 years. However, some of Bathurst’s future proposed mines, especially Whareatea West, were actually within this biodiversity enhancement area. WCENT’s experts also critiqued Bathurst’s economic case in which it was claimed that there would be $467m of net present value, based on a coal price of US$240/t. During the previous four years, however, coal prices had been below US$165/t for almost half the time. Bathurst had also counted economic returns to the overseas based shareholders as a local economic benefit.

29 Nov 2012 Bathurst announced that the Supreme Court had granted leave for the appeal by the WCENT and Forest & Bird against the earlier High Court judgment, which disallowed climate change evidence about adverse effects from mined coal in resource consenting applications, thus bypassing the Court of Appeal.

28 March 2013 The Environment Court released its interim findings about Denniston, agreeing that values of the Plateau were very high but stating that the case was, "so finely balanced that while our current inclination is to grant consent much will ultimately turn on whether appropriate conditions can be worked out." The court gave the parties to the appeal until 19 April to agree a timetable for a plan to allow mining in some areas and protection for others. Bathurst would need to ensure existing vegetation would be re-established and mechanisms put in place to permanently protect 745 ha of land on the plateau. Chief Executive Hamish Bohannan welcomed the announcement and stated that he hoped the company and environmental groups could agree a common position, but Forest & Bird said that they would continue to fight the plan.

11 April 2013 Forest & Bird lodged an appeal in the High Court against the Environment Court’s decision not to consider the environmental effects of the proposed Sullivan mine when deciding whether or not to allow the Escarpment mine to go ahead. Mining company Solid Energy has licenses until 2027 to develop a 134 ha opencast mine on the Sullivan site, close to Escarpment. Forest & Bird’s Top of the South field officer Debs Martin said that the appeal was "a fine legal point but with significant ramifications. We've argued throughout the hearing that the ecological values of the Denniston Plateau are too high to sacrifice. There are unique ecosystems up there found nowhere else in the world and habitats of rare and endangered species, all of which will be irreversibly damaged if the escarpment mine goes ahead."

This appeal came less than a day after Bathurst had said it hoped to start mining before the end of the year. Chief executive Hamish Bonannan stated that the appeal should not have any impact on the timing of the commencement of mining, but this would depend on whether or not a timely hearing was achieved. Bathurst share prices, however, dropped by almost 19 per cent in the wake of the appeal announcement.

11 April 2013 Hamish Bohannan was reported as stating that if agreements on environmental mitigation and protection could be finalized by Friday 19 April then road-making could be under way at Escarpment by July and the resource could be “in coal” by the end of the year. Coal would be trucked down until Bathurst could gain consents from the Environmental Protection Authority to build an aerial ropeway. Mr Bohannan said, however, that if Forest & Bird further appealed the Environment Court decisions then a further delay of four to six months would be likely.

16 April 2013 The Crown Mineral (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill passed its third reading. This bill had been drawn up by the government in order to “promote prospecting for, exploration for and mining of Crown owned minerals for the benefit of New Zealand …” (as described in the purpose clause). The bill specified that decisions about access to conservation land for significant issues should be made jointly by the Ministers of Conservation, and of Energy and Resources. This would apply retrospectively, for example in the case of Bathurst’s applications.

18 April 2013 Forest & Bird lodged an appeal in the High Court against some of the findings in the Environment Court’s interim decision. This decision had not outright upheld or rescinded Bathurst’s consents to mine the Denniston Plateau, but it did make findings with respect to: the amount of coal to be mined; the proposed mitigation offset and compensation package; and whether mining-related activities could occur in an area with particularly high values, known as Sticherus Ridge.

19 April 2013 Bathurst advised the Australian Securities Exchange that Forest & Bird had lodged an appeal on alleged points of law in the interim decision including conditions relating to the exclusion of mining in an area known as the Barren Valley.

2 May 2013 Bathurst advised the Australian Securities Exchange that Judge Newhook had set aside the 11–12 June for a hearing should matters not be resolved beforehand.

Coalbrookdale Mine
The mining rights for Coalbrookdale cover 341.4 ha of the Denniston Plateau, adjacent to the Escarpment block and Bathurst’s operating Cascade mine. Bathurst acquired the rights in July 2011 from Westport businessman, Robert Griffiths and completed the acquisition of the assets in 2012. Coalbrookdale is fully consented for underground mining but Bathurst has plans to also make an application for opencast mining. The mine has minerals permits for two underground operations with the possibility of converting them to open cast permits, plus a partial permit for an open cast operation. The Department of Conservation issued access arrangement and wildlife permits, and 79 holes have been drilled across the permits. Bathurst originally expected to start underground production in the first quarter of 2012. In Feb 2013 the company stated that, “plans to bring Coalbrookdale into production are being developed as part of the overall development plan for operations on the Denniston Plateau, which the Company is expediting to give the community confidence in the overall picture for the plateau.” Corporate Relations general Manager Sam Aarons stated in March that the preferred option would be opencast mining because of the lower overheads. In April 2013, however, the company stated that they would apply for opencast consents for parts of the deposit which could be developed as an extension of Escarpment, but that no immediate development was planned until market conditions improved.

Whareatea West Project
Whareatea West tenement is adjacent to Bathurst’s Escarpment Block. The Chairman’s report to Bathurst’s 2011 AGM indicated that exploratory drilling and studies, and approval processes for an open cut mine were expected to be completed by mid 2013, with production beginning in the last quarter of the year. However, as at September 2012 no application for RMA consents had yet been lodged.

Deep Creek Mine
In a 2010 investor presentation Bathurst stated that the Deep Creek project, an opencast mine with a potential resource of 11–16 Mt, would be the main priority for new mines to be brought on from 2014. In a later media release Bathurst estimated that Deep Creek could commence initial production in 2012/2013 increasing to full production in 2014. Not all financial analysts accept this likelihood; Chris Shaw of FNArena News predicted in Dec 2011 that the Deep Creek project would be pushed out to the end of the decade. The presentation by Bathurst’s Managing Director to the 2011 AGM contained no reference to Deep Creek.

Dealing with environmental concerns
Bathurst Resources is aware of the PR problems of being a coal company. In its 2010 Prospectus the company stated that one of the risks for potential investors stemmed from the fact that "due to the emission of large amounts of greenhouse gases as a result of burning coal for energy, the continued use of coal may result in negative public perception of coal and coal mining companies." This, the company stated, was one factor which could have a negative impact on the company's financial performance. The company also cautioned potential investors that "policies being developed by various international governments may become increasingly negative towards the development and production of fossil fuels, in particular, coal. The view of the Directors is that coal should and will, have a growing role in the fuel mix if global prosperity is to be sustained. However, the company is operating in an international environment where it must abide by these laws. There is a risk that governments will take actions which will damage the economics of coal productions [sic] and thus reduce the value of the Company's assets.”

A 2010 report for investors by Lodge Partners Research included the aggressive schedule and disruptions by environmental activists as possible threats to the project. It cited Roroa (Great Spotted Kiwis) and Powelliphantia (carnivorous snails) as endangered species that would need to be relocated into predator-controlled habitats, but made no other reference to the ecological values of the Plateau.

In August 2011 Bathurst Resources announced that they had appointed Guy Salmon, the Executive director of the free-market think tank, the Ecologic Foundation, as the chairman of "the Environmental Reference, or Kaitiaki, Group, an initiative of Bathurst Resources Limited to actively monitor and guide the environmental performance of the Company’s New Zealand operations." The company stated that the group would report to the company's board of directors and "will include independent representatives with experience in the particular environmental needs and challenges posed by operations in New Zealand." Commenting on the announcement, CEO Hamish Bohannan said, “The Bathurst Board and Management are committed to minimizing the environmental impact of our operations and to leaving a positive environmental legacy when those operations end.”

The presentation given by Bathurst’s Managing Director, Hamish Bohannan, to the 2012 AusIMM Annual Branch Conference indicated that investor perceptions were still a cause of concern. New Zealand was perceived as too ‘Green’ for resource projects because: environmental groups will appeal any new mining projects; New Zealanders on the whole oppose coal; the court process will result in indefinite delays; there’s no other option for consenting; and the regulatory processes are too complex.

In September 2012 Bathurst expressed optimism that the Government would move to facilitate mining in New Zealand. Mr Bohannan stated that he had been reassured by Energy and Resources Minister, Phil Heatley, that the government is “working on it.” He also said that the company faced two groups of objectors and “they keep appealing and appealing.” Mr Bohannan said that his company was concerned about climate change but argued that because New Zealand produced 6 million tones of coal a year in a world that produced 6 billion tonnes a year there was no point in doing things differently.

Shareholders
As of 31 Dec 2012 Bathurst had 697.2M shares on issue. In the August 2012 Report to the AUSIMM Annual Branch Conference it was stated that shareholdings were: 69.2%		Australian 08.2%		New Zealand 22.6%		Other

In the Bathurst Investor Presentation of Feb 2013 the New Zealand shareholding was given as 14%. Institutions, 58% of which are Australian, held 55% of the shares.

Bathurst board members have significant holdings, for example on 8 April 2013 Hamish Bohannan held 11,005,000 fully paid ordinary shares plus 10 million unlisted options. Holdings by individual financial institutions have fluctuated considerably over the last three years. Between 2012–2013 the most significant of these appear to have been:

Bank of America Corporation (formerly Merrill Lynch & Co Inc) Coupland Cardiff Asset Management J P Morgan Chase & Co L1 Capital Pty Limited Mathews Capital National Nominees Limited (cannot be confirmed)

Share prices
Date     -   Price (NZD) 01 May 2013	-	0.20 01 Apr 2013	-	0.22 01 Mar 2013	-	0.41 01 Feb 2013	-	0.40 01 Jan 2013	-	0.50 01 Oct 2012	-	0.60 02 Jul 2012	-	0.41 02 Apr 2012	-	0.79 02 Jan 2012	-	0.91 04 Jul 2011	-	1.34 05 Jan 2011	-	1.34

Productivity and Dividends
Bathurst’s 2012 AGM was held in Sydney. The Directors annual report of 30 June 2012 recommended that no dividend be paid to investors.

Coal production (t) 2012 Q1 2013*

Eastern Coal (Takitimu)	148,071 (2012); 51,427 (Q1 2013*) Buller Coal (Cascade)	 59,285 (2012); 25,538 (Q1 2013*) Total			207,356 (2012); 76,965 (Q1 2013*)

Bathurst Investor Presentation of Feb 2013 described the company as having a strong capital position with NZ$38M in net cash at 31 December 2012. There was, however, a negative cashflow of $4.07 million in the fourth quarter of 2012. The company lost NZ$7.68m after tax for the six months to December 2012.

Board
None of the founding board members still hold office. As of May 2013 the board of directors comprises: Craig Munro		Non-Executive Chairman Hamish Bohannan		Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Malcolm MacPherson	Non-Executive Director Rob Lord		Non-Executive Director

Contact details
(as provided on Bathurst’s web site 9 May 2013)

Bathurst Resources Limited Head Office 5 Lindsay Street,  Perth 6000,  Western Australia Tel: +61 8 9228 3400  Fax: +61 8 9228 3800 Email: info@bathurstresources.com

Bathurst Resources Limited Operations Office Level 12, 1 Willeston Street, Wellington 6011,  New Zealand Tel: +64 4 499 6830 Fax: +64 4 974 5218 Email: wellington@bathurstresources.co.nz

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * Guy Salmon
 * Ecologic Foundation
 * New Zealand and coal
 * New Zealand Mining Industry Association
 * Solid Energy