The upgraded reserve is a part of the company’s ongoing bankable feasibility study, which is on schedule to be completed by the end of the month.

Coalspur attributed the increase in the project’s marketable coal reserve to a larger pit limit, improvement in clean coal yield and a refined mining and coal recovery plan.

Coalspur managing director Gene Wusaty said the increased resource estimate proved the project was a viable asset.

“A 20 per cent reserve increase over the PFS combined with a lower strip ratio in the BFS verifies the size and quality of Vista and its status as a world-class, tier-one coal asset,” Wusaty said.

Following the completion of the updated reserve estimates, Coalspur said the mine plan and production components of the BFS were complete.

The BFS is now focusing on optimisation and an economic analysis of Vista.

The final mine plan for the Vista project includes a 20.1Mtpa run-of-mine operation producing 11.2Mtpa of saleable thermal coal over a 30-year period.

The mine is expected to benefit from adjacent CN rail facilities.

“The expanded production rate to 11.2Mtpa coupled with the increase in marketable reserves positions Vista to be a strategic source of high quality export thermal coal to the Asian Pacific economies for 30 years,” Wusaty said.