Executive chairman Lynch said the exploration program was designed by former Riversdale exploration manager Pat Hanna and would be supervised by newly recruited resource and exploration geologist Yoga Suryanegara.

“The first drill is in place on the BBM project and we have commenced the first hole of a program aimed at defining the coal quality and, ultimately, the resource potential of the project area,” Lynch said.

Hanna, who is an executive director of Cokal, said the BBM project is located immediately adjacent to BHP Billiton’s Juloi project and is bisected by the Barito River.

“We’ve been busy with a team of geologists on the ground since the start of the year mapping the known and new outcrops of coal,” he said.

“The mapping has been important in improving our understanding of the coal seams and determining the appropriate locations for locating the drill holes in order to efficiently prove up our deposit.

“We will be undertaking open and fully cored holes to the standards required by JORC. The core will be dispatched to an approved laboratory for analysis to determine the coal quality.”

Lynch said the company was looking to expand the drilling program and hopes to use additional drill rigs across the various projects it has in Central Kalimantan.

“We have also mobilised geophysical logging services, which are expected to arrive at the project in due course.”