Northern Energy Corporation Limited (NEC) is pleased to announce an increase in the hard coking coal resources at its Maryborough Project to 83 Million tonnes (Mt) comprising an initial Indicated Resource of 9.5Mt and an Inferred Resource of 73.5Mt (previously 57Mt Inferred Resource). In addition the potential of this area to host a more substantial open cut resource has been further quantified through the identification of an Exploration Target of 105-137Mt to a depth of 250m.
“The establishment of an Indicated Resource over the Colton Mine Area is a further step towards establishment of a mining operation within the Maryborough Project area” said NEC’s Managing Director Keith Barker. “These resources have resulted from detailed modelling of the extensive data base generated by the Company’s geological team comprising data from both NEC drilling and historical drilling dating back to 1910”. “Conceptual mine plans drawn up outside of the initial mining area have demonstrated the potential for substantially larger open cut resources at depths beyond that originally identified based on the historical data available at the time. This earlier assessment dictated the exploration approach adopted by NEC to date. It is considered that this area of the basin has been under explored both by historical and recent drilling and further drilling is required to address this. The exploration target quantifies the potential and further drilling is planned to delineate additional resources.” Mr Barker commented. “The ongoing exploration and evaluation work to define the extent of the resource and the potential for increasing production rates from the project will be conducted in parallel with the development of the Colton Mine”.
“Together with last week’s announcement of the off take and capital injection agreement with Xinyang Iron & Steel this substantial uplift in the Project’s resources and ongoing potential for further increases establishes Northern Energy as an emerging coking coal player. This is at a time when the industry is consolidating and as a result the number of opportunities for investors seeking exposure to the coal market in general and coking coal in particular are diminishing.”
Tags: Coal mining, NEC, New Resource, Northern Energy Corporation
