Cokal executive director Pat Hanna said the maiden inferred resource estimate covered an area of only 8% of the total lease area. There was significant upside potential as the drilling program extended into the remaining areas of the BBM lease, he said.
“Our exploration program at the BBM project has progressed well to enable the evaluation of reliable borehole data which has achieved sufficient core recovery, on average in excess of 95 per cent,” he said.
Hanna said drilling was continuing to define further coal resources which were generally in areas of low strip ratio and with higher percentages of coking coal.
Cokal’s team of geologists has been working at BBM under adverse weather conditions throughout 2011.
Cokal has previously confirmed high quality premium metallurgical coal at BBM, in the Indonesian territory of Central Kalimantan.
BBM covers an area of 19,920 hectares immediately adjacent to BHP Billiton’s Juloi tenement, straddling the Barito River. It has numerous outcrops of bright coal.
Another Cokal tenement, BBP, covering an area of 13,050ha, is located adjacent to BHP Billiton’s Maruwai tenement.
Drilling has utilised conventional triple-tube HQ coring, providing 63mm diameter core. All samples have been transported by air courier to ALS’s laboratory in Brisbane, Queensland within five to six days of core recovery.
This ensures the total moisture results reflect the in-situ coal moisture and that the metallurgical properties have suffered minimal degradation due to oxidation.
Cokal managing director Jim Middleton said one of the most remarkable features of the results was the in-situ coal quality. The coal has very attractive attributes, being very low in impurities while containing the right metallurgical attributes which steel makers are seeking.
“The low in-situ ash content indicates there is a reasonable opportunity that a direct ship style operation can be developed, avoiding the need to construct a coal washing plant, which would involve significant time and capital. This is indeed a distinct advantage,” he said.
“While the drilling program continues we will focus on advancing the necessary engineering studies to understand some of the more critical issues involved in taking the project into production.”
