Last year’s exploration work on the project resulted in the estimation of a JORC resource of 255 million tons, while the sophomore program aims to expand and consolidate the project’s existing resource inventory.

“Based on 2012 work, we are already looking at the right approach to start mining, including some very low-cost scenarios both in terms of capital and cash cost,” Celsius chairman Alexander Molyneux said.

“The point with this 2013 program is to acquire the data that we need to move on so we can be mining here within the next two years or so.”

The program will consist of around 4000m to 5000m of diamond core drilling as well as a number of bulk samples for coal quality analysis.

Celsius said it would be targeting exploration in areas with limited historical drilling, which were mostly prospective for the highest ranking coking coals.

As well as expanding the resource, Celsius hopes the second round of drilling will convert more of the resource to indicated status.

The program will also be used to collect data for mining studies such as environmental baseline and geotechnical data.

Celsius has a field team of 40 people and anticipates the program to be completed in October 2013.

All of the work remains fully funded and there is the capacity to expand the exploration program if needed.