Endocoal said all major onsite field activities required for the environmental management plan at the project had been realised and offsite studies were well advanced.

The explorer plans to lodge the EMP with the Queensland government in late September or October.

Endocoal chief executive officer Tim Hedley said the company was pleased with the progress of the environmental preparations to date.

“Completion of essential EMP fieldwork comprises a critical milestone for Endocoal in progressing the mining lease approval process,” he said.

“The next major stage will be submitting the EMP documentation to the Queensland government for its review and ideally approval as an essential step towards achieving the grant of a mining lease at MDS.”

The decision to process the project’s mining lease application via an EMP rather than an environmental impact statement is expected to allow the company to follow a shorter approval period.

Once drafted, the EMP will be lodged with the Department of Environmental and Heritage Protection and if approved will serve as a key requirement in the granting of an MDS mining lease targeted for late this year or early 2013.

The proposed MDS open cut is located in Endocoal’s Orion Downs tenement and is projected to produce 1.5 million tonnes per annum of a direct shipment thermal coal product.

Exploration drilling indicates that the coal has a low ash and sulphur content and therefore does not require washing before dispatch to market.