Balamara has appointed Salva Resources to undertake the PFS on Sawin, which represents the largest coal resource within Balamara’s Polish coal portfolio.

The size and scale of the deposit has prompted the company to start a PFS immediately, with the study expected to take about three months to complete, it said.

The Sawin Project is located in the Lublin Coal basin in Eastern Poland, adjacent to the Bogdanka thermal coal mine operated by listed Polish mining company Lubelski Wegiel Bogdanka SA.

Balamara managing director Mike Ralston said the delineation of a considerable JORC resource for Sawin represented a major achievement for the company.

“This substantial maiden resource, which has been calculated purely from historical drilling, adds significant scale to our rapidly advancing Polish coal asset portfolio and demonstrates another very attractive long-term growth option in front of us,” he said.

“The coal resource will form the basis of a Sawin pre-feasibility study which will commence immediately and is expected to be completed towards the end of 2Q 2015, helping us to quantify the scale and commercial potential of this asset and define an appropriate development pathway.

“While the Mariola project remains our priority development opportunity, the sheer size and scale of the opportunity at Sawin clearly warrants further work to establish the commercial rationale for an operating mine there, and the overall value this asset can deliver for Balamara at some future stage.”