The company plans to relinquish prospecting licence 339 to the Botswana Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources.

In an announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange the company says it is “reviewing opportunities to minimise future spend and still extract value from the remaining prospecting licences in Botswana”

Down in South Africa though, the company turned out 51,000 run of mine tonnes of coal for October at its Penumbra underground coal mine.

Free-on-board cost per tonne for October was 645 South African rand ($A67.80).

However, the company has struggled with the availability of its continuous miners this month, which is impacting its month to date production.

The matter is being addressed by Continental’s operations team with the support of the equipment manufacturer.

The mine is running two Joy 14HM15 continuous miners.

A drill and blast section has been established and production from this is expected to ramp up in the next few months.

Continental’s Vlakvarkfontein coal mine is still exceeding its production budget targets, turning out 127,400t to the ROM pad at a free-on-truck cost of R167/t during October.

The company also recently submitted its draft pre-listing statement to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange for review.

Its JSE listing timeline will be affected by the timing and structure of its refinancing of its convertible debentures.

On the financing front Continental’s board appointed an independent special committee, which has been talking to potential funders.