Other Bowen Basin Projects

Bowen Basin

The Company has taken up a significant ground holding in the Bowen Basin region of Queensland and now holds 15 Exploration Permits for Coal (EPC's) and has three applications pending, covering a total area of 8,000 sq km. The EPC's were taken up as part of a broader strategy to target economic coal resources amenable to open pit mining that are close to established infrastructure. Phased programs of exploration commenced as soon as the tenements were granted and work has progressed in stages to identify and prioritise targets for drilling.

Exploration targets identified on the tenements include:

• Coal-bearing sequences along the Comet Ridge in the Washpool, Mount Crocker and Speculation Creek permits;
• Rangal Coal Measures on Wilpeena, Redhill, Blenheim(a), Blenheim East(a), Stragglers(a), Duaringa and Walton;
• Baralaba Coal Measures on Springvale, Adler Downs and Dawson Vale;
• The Corvus seam at shallow depth on Mount Crocker;
• Walloon Coal Measures on Bendoba, Box Creek, Cornwall and Forest Vale; and
• Collinsville Coal Measures (or an equivalent sequence) on the Bowen River permit.

Red Hill Coal Project

The Red Hill Coal Project is located in the northern part of the Bowen Basin, approximately 45 kilometres north of the Company’s  Isaac Plains Coal Mine and adjacent to BMA’s Goonyella operations.

A total of 26 drill holes have been completed in the area including five 100mm partially cored holes targeting the open-cut and underground potential of the Leichhardt Upper and Vermont Lower seams of the Rangal Coal Measures, similar to the resources mined at Isaac Plains. The drilling has confirmed the presence of a small open cut resource in the central west of the project and the continuation of the Leichhardt and Vermont seams down dip at a thickness that is consistent for underground mining techniques.

An initial JORC resource statement has been calculated with an estimated insitu coal resource of 75 million tonnes as summarised by seam and depth interval below.

Red Hill Coal Project - JORC Coal Resources (Mt) (Inferred)

The estimates of Coal Resources for the Red Hill Underground Project presented on this website have been carried out in accordance with the Australasian Code for Repoorting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserv es (JORC Code), 2004, prepared by the Joint Ore Reserves Committee of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and The Australasian Inwstitute of Geoscientists and Minerals Council of Australia, December 2004.  The information in this report that relates to Red Hill Coal Resources, is compiled by Mr Blair Richardson and modelled and reviewed by Mr Lyon Barrett.  Mr Richardson was previously an employee of Aquila Resources Ltd, with 25 years experience in geology and over 15 years experience in resource evaluation.  Mr Richardson is a member of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which hs is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the JORC Code.  Mr Richardson holds shares in Aquila Resources Ltd.  Mr Barratt is a full time employee of Salva Resources and has over 15 years experience in geology and over 10 years experience in resource evaluation.  Mr Barrett is a member of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the JORC Code.  Mr Richardson and Mr Barrett consent to the inclusion on this website of the matters based on their information in the form and context in which it appears. 

Based on this work, the evaluation of potential underground mining options was commenced and a Concept Study is in progress. This study is considering a number of development configurations including bord and pillar and short longwall options to evaluate the potential for an operation producing up to 2Mtpa of metallurgical and thermal coal for export via the Abbot Point Coal Terminal where port allocation has been secured.

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