Paringa Resources Ltd has announced an updated 328 million t Coal Resource Estimate (CRE) for the Poplar Grove and Cypress Mines located in the Illinois Coal Basin in Kentucky, US.
The discovery of the WK No.11 coal seam above the Western Kentucky No.9 coal seam at Poplar Grove has the potential to significantly improve the project economics by increasing capacity with minimal capital cost. Paringa is in the final stages of completing an updated Bankable Feasibility Study to assess the potential for a two-coal seam operation at Poplar Grove and the optimal method to access the WK No.11 seam from planned underground mine operations for the WK No.9 seam.
Paringa’s CEO, Mr. Todd Hannigan, said: “I would like to congratulate the Paringa team for the very successful drilling campaign over the last 4 months which has enabled us to announce the significant upgrade in our JORC Resources. This Resource upgrade will now underpin our proposed two seam mining operation at Poplar Grove. Importantly, we remain on track to deliver on the commitments we made to our shareholders and we look forward to commencing construction of Poplar Grove by mid-2017.”