County’s strong management team and its exploration leases in the Powder River valley in the US appealed to investors when the company floated on the Australian Securities Exchange on November 15.

According to research by Deloitte, it was in the top 10 IPOs for the year along with International Coal, with County occupying the number 7 position and International at 8, as at December 14.

Cameron is also the chairman of Centennial Coal while Jakeman is the former managing director of Carabella Resources.

County has high quality assets in a world-class thermal coal mining region in the US and high potential for multiple open cut mines, with planned production in excess of 10 million tonnes per annum, according to a recent company presentation.

“The board of directors have superior experience and contacts in coal mining and marketing, finance and investment in Australia, Asia and [the] USA,” according to the company.

“It is supported by [a] mining advisory panel with [an] extensive operational track record in coal mining in Australia and [the] USA.”

County said before listing, it had obtained extensive JORC-measured status exploration assets in the US and had further exploration and acquisition opportunities in the region which were close to existing road, rail and power infrastructure.

It has two export open cut thermal coal development projects in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming with total JORC resources of 642Mt.

Its Shell Creek thermal coal project has 258Mt of resources in the JORC-indicated category and 74Mt at JORC-inferred.

Its Miller thermal coal project has 310Mt of JORC resources in the measured category.

Explorer International Coal, which listed on the ASX on July 28, hopes to release a maiden JORC-compliant resource for its South Blackall thermal coal tenement in Queensland’s Eromanga Basin in 2012, after making headway with its drilling program.

The company said almost 900m of drilling had been completed over recent at months at South Blackall, despite unfavourable weather conditions.

“Whilst poor recent weather conditions and some mechanical delays have been encountered, the ICX board are pleased with operations to date at South Blackall and look forward to more positive results from the completion of the program early next year,” it said.

Drilling at the tenement to date has been successful, with multiple coal seams identified in all drill holes.

Following the pleasing results yielded from the drilling program, International has begun geophysical downhole analysis on the area.

Meanwhile, the company said draft compensation agreements with most landowners, situated within EPC 2194 and EPC 2196 at its Bundaberg tenement, had concluded.

The company plans to register the agreements with the Queensland Office of State Revenue and notify landowners of its plans to commence drilling next year.

It plans to drill 12 to 18 holes over the majority of EPC 2194 and some drilling is also scheduled for EPC 2196.

Bundaberg has an exploration target of 280–350Mt of coking coal, according to a report by the Moultrie Group.