Submitted
Jemi Fibre is pleased to announce it has entered into an agreement with CanAus Coal Limited pursuant to which CanAus has acquired an option to acquire a portion of Jemi Fibre’s private timberlands in the Kootenay region of B.C. for $14 million, subject to Jemi Fibre retaining all timber rights on the optioned lands in perpetuity. The optioned lands consist of approximately 18,000 acres of the 136,000 acres of private timberland acquired by Jemi Fibre in 2014 for $37 million.
The term of the option is for five years and provides payments to Jemi Fibre of up to $2.2 million as follows: $300,000 upon the parties entering into the Option; $400,000 on the first anniversary of the Option; $500,000 on the second anniversary of the Option; $500,000 on the third anniversary of the Option; and $500,000 on the fourth anniversary of the Option.
In the year the Option is exercised, the annual option fee for that year will be deducted from the overall purchase price.
CanAus is the holder of the subsurface coal rights on the optioned lands and is currently working through feasibility stages of development. Over the past three years, CanAus has completed an extensive exploration program on the optioned lands under a land use agreement with Jemi Fibre and the prior owner. The Option provides for continuation of the land use agreement until the option is exercised.
Jemi Fibre is a Western Canadian-based forest products company, which trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol JFI. Jemi Fibre’s operations consist of timber ownership and management of private timberlands and Crown forest licenses, full service logging and trucking operations, post-peeling and wood treatment operations for the agricultural market and specialty lumber manufacturing. The company’s head office and principal place of business is located in Vancouver.
CanAus is a B.C. registered coal exploration and mining company. Based in Sparwood, BC, CanAus holds the coal licenses to over 5,000 hectares of land within the Crowsnest coal field. CanAus is currently in the feasibility stages of development and looks to provide typical Elk Valley hard coking coal to global markets.
CanAus is owned by its parent company CoalMont Pty Ltd, based in Brisbane Australia.