Australia-based Cokal already owns a handful of Indonesian coal tenements and is aiming to transition into a coal exporter by mid-2013.

Cokal said it had acquired a 75.2% stake in SNR, with the three licenses covering an area of approximately 13,000 hectares.

Local Indonesian partners will hold the remaining interest in SNR.

Cokal executive chairman Peter Lynch said earlier exploration work at the tenement undertaken by a major Japanese coal company had identified coking coal-bearing formations.

“While recent exploratory work for metallurgical coal in the area was limited, surface samples of coal from surrounding areas had shown good coking coal properties and I am excited by the possibility of opening up a new area,” he said.

“Cokal believes that SNR properties are strategically placed within the region and have the potential to yield high-value coking coal.”

Cokal will soon undertake a greenfield exploration program in West Kalimantan to further determine the potential of the region.

Finalisation of the acquisition is expected to be completed by the June quarter of 2012, with initial mapping and geological work to start soon after.

The proposed acquisition received Indonesian regulatory approval.