Wollongong Coal has used up most of the cash advance facility that effectively keeps the company running.
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This is despite the amount available having been increased by $25 million less than four months ago.
Major shareholder Jindal Steel and Power (Maritius) had provided Wollongong Coal – which runs Russell Vale and Wongawilli mines – with a $150 million cash advance facility.
The agreement to use that ran out in March and, as of April, Wollongong Coal has drawn around $153 million from the facility for “operational and developmental costs”.
Rather than see the agreement end Jindal agreed to extend it another 12 months to March 2017 and throw in another $25 million.
That extra $25 million is almost all gone already, according to Wollongong Coal’s April to June quarterly report.
“To date, the company has withdrawn around $170.94 million and not paid any interest,” the quarterly report states.
That means there is only around $4 million left in the facility.
The report also states the company is negotiating with banks to secure a $630 million loan “to repay existing loans and to part-finance capital expenditures”.
Of that amount, $386.29 million has been dispersed to repay existing loans.
The quarterly report also states the Russell Vale mine was the subject of six complaints in the last quarter.
Four were related to trucking operations, one to dust pollution and one was related to water pollution.
The complaint about water pollution is believed to relate to an incident at Bellambi Creek, where Wollongong Coal was fined $30,000 by the Environment Protection Authority for spilling coal pollution into the water.
There were no complaints made about Wongawilli Colliery in the last three months, according to the report.
Both Russell Vale and Wongawilli collieries are in care and maintenance but 78,611 tonnes of coal was sold from the former mine.
Wollongong Coal was contacted for further comment but did not respond by deadline.