New Age flagged the appointment of Lochinvar personnel, a successful fundraising placement and the outlining of a 12-month drill program and scoping study at the 67sq.km site.

The company declared an exploration target of 330-410 million tonnes of metallurgical coal when it clinched the underground licence last June in the United Kingdom’s all-but-forgotten Canonbie coalfield.

New Age managing director Gary Fietz said the 20-hole drill program would lead to a JORC resource estimate over the course of the year.

A historic borehole at Lochinvar intersected seven coal seams between 272-346m, including the primary target seam at 310m.

The company said its $7.5 million share placement completed in October ensured full funding to progress the proposed mine.

Other activity for the company during Q4 2012 included the acquisition of the Redmoor tin and tungsten project in Cornwall and the withdrawal from the La Miel thermal coal project in Colombia.

New Age aborted its second borehole attempt at La Miel due to flooding in the area and no coal was intersected.

It subsequently paid a $500,000 fee to the vendors and abandoned the project.

Other New Age coal projects in Colombia include the Terranova tenement, where the company is targeting long-term production of 0.5 Mtpa beginning in 2014 over a mine life in excess of 10 years.

New Age has also entered into binding agreements to acquire two exploration and mining concessions within the country’s Cesar thermal coal basin.