West Cumbria Mining (WCM), which plans to mine metallurgical coal, has appointed its initial preferred suppliers for Woodhead Colliery in Cumbria.
The first seven key suppliers are: AmpControl; rail freight provider Freightliner; Javelin Global Commodities; Parnaby Cyclones; Herrenknecht; Redcar Bulk Terminal; and Sandvik.
AmpControl (Prestwick, Scotland) focuses on integrated electrical protection, monitoring and control solutions for coal mining applications.
Parnaby Cyclones (County Durham) is a family-owned business that has designed, manufactured, and installed washing plant and equipment for the mining, quarrying, recycling and mineral industries across the world since 1973.
Javelin Global Commodities (London) is a UK-based commodity trader, with experience and customer base in the marketing and sales for metallurgical coal.
Herrenknecht UK (Sunderland) is a German company supplying comprehensive technical solutions in mechanised tunnelling for underground infrastructure projects around the world.
Redcar Bulk Terminal in Teesside operates a deep-water terminal on the south bank of the River Tees, capable of handling Cape Size Vessels with drafts up to 17 metres.
Swedish company Sandvik provide specialist mining equipment and have a base in Derbyshire.
WCM has also progressed with the preparatory work required ahead of construction on the former Marchon Industrial site near Whitehaven.
The company concluded an extensive project design and financial review at the start of this year to give details to Cumbria County Council on modifications to the coal processing facilities.
These will improve the way the metallurgical coal is recovered via a series of equipment changes within the coal process itself.
A company statement read: “This review also resulted in an optimised funding structure to reduce the initial capital funding required to deliver the mine into production, further improving the project economics.”