GCM has invested over £55 million in the Project to 30 June 2020 preparing the Feasibility Study, Scheme of Development, Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, Management Action Plans and more recently extensively refining and updating the work carried out in the Feasibility Study. Explaining the Project to a wide range of stakeholders in Bangladesh also continues.

The Department of Environment approved the Project's Environmental Impact Assessment in September 2005. The Project's Feasibility Study and Scheme of Development report was submitted to the Government on 2 October 2005 for approval.

Although a Scheme of Development for mine development was submitted to the Government of Bangladesh in 2005 and still awaits approval, this document did not portray the mine as “captive” with an ultimate deliverable to the Government being 6,000MW of reliable, low-cost power. To this end, the Company’s business model has developed significantly over time and the Project is now considered to comprise four integrated “Business Units”, being the captive coal mine and the three 2,000MW power projects that will be commissioned in-line with the ramp-up to the nameplate 15Mtpa coal production. It is envisaged that the coal mine’s viability will be underpinned by coal supply agreements with each of the three power projects and, in turn, the power projects’ viability will be underpinned by the supply of reliable, competitively priced coal extracted from the Phulbari coal mine.