Drilling was completed at a depth of 37,625m.

MetroCoal said the ongoing drilling program at Columboola continued to confirm attractive seams particularly in the potentially mineable Macalister and Condamine seam package, which demonstrated good continuity and correlation in the project area.

A resource estimation for the Condamine seam is underway.

MetroCoal is now nearing the end of its stage 1 and 2 drilling programs at the tenement, which have been designed to target thermal coal suitable for the export market at depths amenable to underground mining.

A review of the project data will commence shortly and from that review a conceptual mining target will be generated, paving the way for a stage 3 drilling program.

The Columboola project is a JV with Chinese group SinoCoal and exploration results to date show a resource of nearly 1.3 billion tonnes at the inferred level.

It is expected to produce 5 million tonnes per annum of thermal coal from longwall mining operations beginning in 2018.

MetroCoal’s other key projects include its Bundi coal project, which is expected to commence longwall mining in 2017.