The start date for the Davao Oriental project in the Philippines has been accelerated as a result of the completion of drilling and exploration activities a few months ahead of schedule.

The company is currently evaluating and testing two large coal deposit areas within the site and Coal Asia chairman Harald Tomintz said in a statement that he was pleased with the early completion of drilling and exploration activities as well as the exploratory results.

“Coal Asia wants to bring the local industry into a sustainable level, and developments like these not only keep us on track but also further accelerate our goal in achieving that,” Tomintz said.

Coal Asia Holdings is a Philippines-based investment holding company. It has recently acquired Titan Mining and Energy Corporation, which owns 13,000 hectares of coal resources in Davao Oriental and Zamboanga Sibugay in the Philippines.

An independent report by Multinational Investment Bancorporation dated May 8, 2012, valued the company's coal and energy assets at about $US300 million.

Coal Asia’s initial capital building raised just over $19.6 million to fund the two projects, which are due to begin production in 2015.