Continental’s Botswana subsidiary controls prospecting licenses 339 and 340, which make up the Serowe project, and PL341, known as Kweneng.

In August, Continental announced a JORC-compliant inferred resource of 2.2 billion tonnes at Kweneng and an exploration target of 9Bt-plus across both projects.

Continental Coal chief executive officer Don Turvey said the company could now progress with its next phase of exploration planning.

“There have been a number of positive developments in Botswana’s emerging coal sector recently, so the renewal of our licenses is timely, and we look forward to making a significant contribution to what is a rapidly growing and exciting sector,” he said.

Continental says the licence renewals will also allow it to progress joint venture discussions with “several strategic parties”

The Botswana government is keen to develop a coal industry to reduce its reliance on South Africa for energy.

Continental shares on the Australian Securities Exchange fell 0.3c today to 4.3c.