Reducing project capital and operating costs will also improve the company's prospects of attracting strategic partners and procuring construction funding for the project, managing director Nick Jorss said.

“Being located on the existing Blackwater rail line serving the coal ports of Gladstone means Belview is well-positioned to secure low-cost rail and port capacity for the project,” he said.

The company, which yesterday announced a JORC-inferred resource of 322 million tonnes for the Queensland project, is keen to further develop and prove it up after a five-hole drilling program.

The company’s share price soared by 20% on the announcement, the same day that other Queensland mine development companies such as Carabella Resources also rose in value.

Washability and clean coal composite results are pending, but initial results indicate that the quality is typical of other coking coals produced from the Rangal Coal Measures in the region, Jorss said.

“Establishment of a significant resource estimate within the project's northern area validates the company's strategy of having expanded the footprint of Belview into shallower coal last year,” he said.

“The large resource base demonstrates the potential to develop a major coking coal mine at Belview, which is surrounded by operating coking and PCI coal mines.”