THE Mid West’s industrial potential may be boosted with the announcement of a Perth company securing the mining rights to what it is calling a major coal deposit near Eneabba, about 120 kilometres south of Geraldton.
Aviva Corporation has made one of four $80,000 option payments to acquire the rights to the coal deposit and is still in negotiations with the leaseholder.
Aviva managing director Lindsay Reed said the coal deposit had many applications in the region including using carbon in agriculture, burning the coal for power generation or using it in synthetic rutile production.
He estimated the deposit contained a 30-year supply of coal for a baseload power station – something Aviva is investigating.
Up to $500,000 will be spent reviewing data, conducting a scoping study and drilling and testing on the deposit before the end of the year.
“The aim is to announce details of the data review within eight weeks and commence a scoping study in June,” Mr Reed said.
The South Perth company is also looking at potential synergies with the Mid West iron ore industry, which is currently investigating downstream processing.
Aviva Corporation originally floated on the Australian Stock Exchange in the early 1990s as Egerton Gold under the direction of Frank Blakiston, the father of Blakiston Crabb partner Michael Blakiston.
After an unsuccessful bid as a finance company Aviva was recapitalised last year and recently spun the original Egerton gold tenements off into the newly-listed NGM Resources.
Former Hamersley Iron managing director Ian Burston, has taken a position on Aviva’s board.
Mr Burston once managed CRA’s Hill River project that involved the mining of the nearby Hill River coal deposit to supply a proposed $1.5 billion 600 megawatt coal power station about 300 kilometres north of Perth.
The plan faltered when the WA Government created a national park over the coal deposit in 1991.