Four new holes were drilled for a total of 215m in the Denniston Sector with 66 holes drilled in the escarpment target area to date.

Judging by the continuity and quality of the 4.6-5.9m seam uncovered so far, Bathurst is confident of converting the resources into reserves as part of the definitive feasibility study underway.

The initial exploration results include 3.8Mt of measured, 1.6Mt of indicated and 1.9Mt of inferred resources.

Bathurst is onto second-stage drilling of 20 holes for 1000m in the Denniston Sector, expected to hold 17-23Mt, and in the Deep Creek area to the north.

Drilling of this phase is expected to be completed by the end of July, followed by a resource upgrade in August.

Bathurst said the coal uncovered so far has strong coking coal properties with low sulfur and low ash.

The Perth-based company aims to complete the Buller DFS in the September quarter.

The project area spans 10,000 hectares in permits that “largely surround” Solid Energy’s 2 million tonne per annum coking coal Stockton mine.

Bathurst aims to start producing coking coal from the open cut project in late 2011.

Bathurst shares closed down half a cent to 17c yesterday.