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The JV identified shallow, open cut mineable coal at the Goombi project, with a 45Mt inferred resource in the Kogan and Macalister upper seams identified at depths less than 80m below surface.
“The JV remains fully committed to its longer term plan to develop a large modern underground longwall mine,” MetroCoal said in a statement.
“This open cut mining resource presents an exciting opportunity for the Columboola JV to commence production in the near term, ahead of completion of the infrastructure connecting Columboola to the Port of Gladstone and will allow the JV to establish a market base for its Surat Basin coal.”
The open cut resource target area lies between Yancoal’s Cameby Downs mine to the northwest and its Rywung resource to the east.
Locally the Kogan seam thickens up to 3m and is consistent within the target area.
The thicker Kogan seam, together with shallower than expected Macalister upper seam intersected in the recent drilling program, has resulted in the open cut target being identified.
A four-hole infill drilling program aimed at confirming the initial resource assessment was completed in late October.
Results from the program confirmed the coal seam thickness and depth and the cores are being analysed for coal quality and washability.
Extensive work including additional drilling, coal quality and washability modelling and mine design is required in order to fully assess the economic potential of the opportunity.
Coal shallower than 20m depth is currently excluded from the resource estimate to allow for potential oxidation effects.
“It is possible that this excluded coal may become available following further sampling and analysis,” MetroCoal said.
“The proposed mining area is close to the existing railway to Brisbane and work has commenced on the technical evaluation of mining options and economics for an initial operation producing around 1Mtpa product coal for export.
“Discussions have been initiated with the relevant rail and port organisations to obtain access to the necessary rail and port capacity.”
