In his presentation as part of the European and North American Roadshow last week, managing director Keith Barker said the quality analysis of the Maryborough hard coking coal was underway, and the 57 million tonne inferred resource was within100m of the surface.
In January, Northern submitted its mining lease application for the open cut Colton mine, within the Maryborough project, and hopes to receive approval in October.
The mine is gunning for 500,000t per annum of hard coking coal and could be up and running by mid-2011.
Northern is aiming for 5Mtpa of thermal coal from Elimatta, targeting a mine life of more than 30 years in a truck and shovel operation with an average strip ratio of 3.5 for the first 10 years.
Elimatta hosts 106Mt of marketable reserves with mine construction slated for late 2011.
Northern shares remained unchanged yesterday at $1.14.
