“Our exploration target is a further 800 million tonnes of inferred resource to add to the 1200 million tonnes already reported in the southern half of the lease,” East Energy exploration manager Peter Tighe said.

Drilling will test the recently named Allambi deposit in a 24 square kilometre area north of the big finds already made in EPC 1149.

In April a series of 27 chip holes across the deposit yielded cumulative coal thicknesses of up to 10m as close as 24m from the surface.

“Results from that program indicated that the coal seams are continuous and retain similar character in terms of seam thickness and apparent quality as in the south,” East said.

“The structure of the Allambi deposit mirrors that of the south with seams dipping from east to west at an angle of about two degrees.”

East Energy established the 1.2 billion tonnes of inferred coal resources in the southern part of the tenement in the Eromanga Basin last year.

The Eromanga Basin is further west of both the emerging Surat and Galilee basins, meaning considerable infrastructure investment will be required for future mining operations in this region.

East Energy shares closed up half a cent to 22c yesterday.