TerraCom Limited (ASX:TER) is believed to have been running the ruler over its $256 million listed mining rival Bowen Coking Coal Limited (ASX:BCB), which has launched a strategic review across its portfolio and remains in negotiations with its lenders through Grant Samuel. Sources have suggested that TerraCom has been considering some sort of combination with Bowen, which has several coal mining assets in Queensland's Bowen Basin. Bowen told the market on 28 August 2023 that it had completed an internal strategic review and had opted to concentrate mining operations on its higher-margin deposits, optimising mine plans to use commissioned infrastructure that would enable it to preserve capital amid tightened market and pricing conditions.

A strategic review of its Bluff mine was nearing completion, and it had been holding talks with its customers, contractors and other key stakeholders about its future. This was in the context of a decline in the coal price.