Bowen said it was highly encouraged by early results of its exploration program.
"These tenements demonstrate Bowen’s ongoing commitment and belief in the exploration potential of the Springsure Shelf and follows on from the discovery of out-cropping coal seams within EPC1001," the company said.
The project area is located 40km south west of Springsure and 40km west of Xstrata Coal’s Rolleston Mine and the new heavy gauge railway constructed to service that mine.
Reconnaissance field mapping within EPC1001 has located a 2m thick seam of clean coal with thinner coal seams both above and below the main seam also observed in outcrop.
The main seam was observed in numerous outcrops and subcrop areas extending for several hundred meters along the axis of a major drainage system within the EPC.
The coal seams are interpreted to correspond with those defined in the nearby Freitag Creek deposit in the adjacent EPC786.
"This discovery is regarded by company geologists as significant as it reinforces the prospectivity of the under-explored Springsure Shelf and validates the exploration strategy of Bowen Energy. These results also confirm the potential of the region to host a shallow deposit which is amenable to open cut coal mining techniques," the company said Wednesday.
Bowen is embarking upon detailed mapping campaigns and exploratory drilling of the Bandanna Formation with planning for drilling in the final quarter of 2007 or first quarter of 2008.
At the East Middlemount project, located 10kms from the German Creek East coal mine, the company has compiled digital geophysical, remote sensing (Landsat) and GIS data in preparation for reconnaissance field programs and scout drilling.
A drilling program involving 14 bore holes targeting a number of seismic horizons has been proposed for the next quarter subject, subject to drilling companies.
Exploration activities over EPC930 are currently being operated by joint venture partners Rocklands Richfield Limited, who will spend $527,000 to earn 60% equity.
At the Tarong project and Cape River project Bowen Energy has not carried out any work and the Queensland department of Mines and Energy have progressed the lease to public notification stage prior to grant.
