The company has been granted EPC 2318 and 2332, which together with EPC 2327 and EPC 2925 form the Consuelo project.

International CEO Glenn Simpson said: “This is great news for the company and provides certainty of tenure over the project. It gives us the green light to move forward with our plans to explore and develop this flagship project in the Bowen Basin.

“International Coal now has its foot on highly prospective land in the Bowen Basin, a hard coking coal discovery near Bundaberg in the Maryborough Basin, and longer term, thermal coal projects in the Surat and Eromanga Basin. There are not too many explorers with our size market cap that have developed assets of that calibre.”

Located in the Bowen Basin between Glencore Xstrata’s Rolleston Mine and Bandanna Energy’s Arcadia Deposit, the Consuelo Project is hoped to yield a high-grade thermal to semi-soft coking coal product from a combined open-cut and underground operation.

“While we still need to see the results of the proposed exploration program, the historical evidence suggests the project has high potential for coal at depths currently mined using open-cut and underground methods and we are close to existing rail and port infrastructure,” Simpson said.

“We intend to commence immediately with land access and cultural heritage clearance work. EPC 2327 is going through a native title advertisement process which takes a minimum of four months.”

However, an agreement is already in place with the key native title claimant (Bidjara People), which includes a non-objection clause, clearing the way through to grant at the end of the advertisement period.

The agreement also establishes a cultural heritage management system, enabling cultural heritage clearances to be moved forward upon grant.