A 118.6Mt JORC inferred resource has been defined for the Tin Hut Creek project, which is 47% higher than the previously announced resource.

The project is now more than 7 kilometres long and up to 2.5km wide, and remains open to the north, south, east and west covering an area of more than 1029 hectares.

Nineteen drillholes have been completed in the Tin Hut Creek project area for 2070m since the last update.

The drilling program, comprising open holes and coal quality core holes, is set to restart following ground conditions improving after the wet weather experienced in February and March.

A 75.6Mt JORC inferred resource has also been defined for the Davies Road project assuming an open cut strip ratio of 9.5:1 to a depth of 150m, over an area of 724 hectares.

The Davies Road Resource represents a 25.2Mt or 33% increase on the previously announced resource.

Four hundred and forty six holes have been drilled in Cockatoo’s Surat Basin projects for 55,280m.

Recent drilling has cumulative downhole coal intercepts of up to 15.9m with an

average thickness of 9.1m.

“Further drilling to the north and east is also planned in the coming weeks,” the company said.

“The Tin Hut Creek project has excellent future development potential, given the close proximity to the company’s Woori project, low strip ratios, and predominantly unconfined resource boundaries.

“Importantly, the expansion of the coal resource base provides enhanced scope for future

development of satellite operations to the Woori project, where mining is planned to commence coinciding with the commissioning of the Surat Basin Rail Link,” the company said.

“Further to this, recent acquisition of strategically placed freehold land, and the lodgement of the Tin Hut Creek project and Bottle Tree project positions the company for expedited project development and future production.”

Cockatoo’s share price closed up 3.5c to 53c.