Metallica increases black coal resources at Kingaroy
Posted: 4 July 2006
Metallica Minerals Limited reported an increase in its black coal resources near Kingaroy, in Queensland, following the completion of a recent core drilling and coal quality analysis.
The Company said the Taabinga thermal coal Measured and Indicated Resource has increased by 14.4 Mt from 181.9 Mt to 196.3 Mt.
The increase in resource is significant due to the proximity to the contiguous Kunioon coal deposit within Mineral Development Licence (MDL) 201 held by Rio Tinto Coal Australia Pty Ltd (RTCA).
RTCA is currently evaluating the Kunioon deposit’s potential to be the main coal supply for Queensland’s largest power station, Tarong, from 2011.
The Kingaroy coal project, tenement EPC 882, surrounds MDL 201 and covers a major part of the northern Tarong Coal Basin.
Coal qualities from the April - May 2006 four core hole drill program were of a similar tenor to qualities quantified by previous explorers over the tenement area.
The best intercept of coal was recorded in hole T5003C which intersected 10.95m of coal (from 39-50m) recording 35 per cent ash and a specific energy of 19.3 Mj/kg, which is typical of unwashed Tarong Basin high ash thermal coal.
There are three major coal seams within the Taabinga deposit, each of which may split in to one or more sub-seams: the top Kunioon (averaging 7m thick), the Swain (averaging 5m thick) and the bottom Goodger seam (average 9m thick).
A review of all coal prospects and historical coal exploration drilling within the Kingaroy project (EPC 882) is underway to better define the known resources, particularly the shallow Taabinga resource areas which may be amenable to open cut mining, and deep coal (>130m depth) for Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) potential (see ASX release UCG JV with Cougar Energy 18 May 2006).
In addition to its four coal projects in southern Queensland, held by subsidiary MetroCoal Ltd, Metallica also has major interests in nickel (NORNICO nickel it’s flagship project) and bauxite.
Posted by Richard Price, Editor, EnergyME.com
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