With phase 2 drilling underway, the explorer provided some analysis of the seven completed holes from the first-stage program.

The Whybrow and Whynot seams have thicknesses exceeding 1.5 metres each, but the Blakefield seam exhibited seam-splitting, which limited potential underground mining.

The Whynot seam intersections were more than 1.5m in all of the six holes drilled in the northern section of the project, “indicating good underground potential”

This seam was 244m deep in one hole and forms part of the Whittingham coal measures of the project, with coal-quality analysis underway.

Results for the lesser-quality Newcastle coal measures in the project have been released.

The best energy content out of the seven holes was in a Fassifern seam section (46m deep) at 6337 kilocalories per kilogram with 14% ash, 5.8% moisture and 0.44% sulfur, all on an air-dried basis.

Coalworks is also reviewing possible areas of open cut potential.

The exploration target for the thermal and coking coal project is 350-530 million tonnes of resources.

Coalworks shares are up 2.5c to 80.5c this morning.