The drill program, designed with SRK Consulting, aims to rapidly identify resources within four known target seams.
The first stage of the program consists of 50 holes, both open hole and partially cored spread over a target resource area covering 110 square kilometres. The first drill rig, which began work last Friday, will be joined by a second rig in late April, with the aim of completing the program by the end of June 2007.
The Waratah Coal licence area surrounds an existing resource historically reported to contain 2.1 billion tonnes of thermal coal over a 37km strike length.
Company chief Peter Lynch said the South Alpha Project had large resource potential in a previously unexplored area, potentially high quality thermal coal products, and close proximity to infrastructure. Waratah has also previously said the coal was highly suitable for coal-to-liquids processing.
EPC 1040 is one of six EPCs and EPC applications held by Waratah in the Galilee Basin.
Waratah Coal listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange during December last year with plans to exploit deep seams in New South Wales and Queensland.
Led by ex-MIM and Oaky Creek general manager Peter Lynch, much of the company's plans centre around exploring deeper deposits where mining has historically taken place, but which may have been overlooked.
