Cokal executive chairman Peter Lynch said the independent study on the Bumi Barito Mineral project by SMEC International gave the company confidence to start the project’s staged development.

“Added to this [SMEC report] is the geographically strategic location of the BBM project for customers in the subcontinent, Southeast Asia and north Asia as well as excellent product properties and supply diversification from this emerging coking coal basin in central Kalimantan,” he said.

Lynch said Cokal had established a robust economic basis for a 2 million tonne per annum direct ship operation at BBM, as well as identifying expansion potential.

“The company is now focused on obtaining the necessary permits and approvals to enable staged development of BBM while at the same time we are implementing an exploration program to define sufficient coal resources to underpin the expansion of the project,” he said.

“Already we have commenced further detailed work and studies in areas where we have identified critical path scheduling areas and technical requirements to commence production from BBM.”