Jameson Resources’ Dunlevy Project makes headway

Jameson Resources has been granted the first two exploration licenses for its 100% owned Dunlevy project in the Peace River coal field in British Columbia.

Dunlevy is a rare “greenfields” metallurgical coal prospect in a reputable metallurgical coal field. Jameson first acquired the project in December 2011 through a sale and purchase agreement.

An initial exploration target of 100 – 150 million t of potential metallurgical coal has been identified by an independent geologist for the Dunlevy project, based on a single coal seam of 1.5 m thickness.

Drilling programme

Drilling at the Dunlevy project will commence immediately following the approval of Jameson Resources’ Notice of Work (NOW), which was lodged with the British Columbia Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM). The NOW includes 34 drill sites on the west limb of the Dunlevy syncline. In a statement, Jameson Resources said that the company expects approval for the NOW “within eight weeks”.

The primary objectives of the drilling programme will be to establish:

• The number of seams.
• Seam thickness.
• Coal quality.
• Overall structure.
• An initial resource estimate.

David Fawcett, chairman of Jameson Resources, said: “We are pleased that MEM has made its decision on issuance of Dunlevy tenure, thus clearing the way for finalisation of the NOW and commencing the planned exploration programme. Jameson looks forward to beginning exploration at Dunlevy in Q1 of 2014. It is out belief Dunlevy represents a high-potential prospect, and our phase 1 drilling programme will provide early and valuable indications of Dunlevy’s potential coal resources.”

Infrastructure access

The Dunlevy project lies some 90 km from Fort St John, which is the closest area with well-developed infrastructure. The project is connected to Fort St John via an all-weather road. The Canadian National Railway’s track is the point of entry for Jameson’s access to railway and is located at Chetwynd.

Project timeline

The Dunlevy tenure will comprise approximately 2646 ha. of highly prospective ground. All previously planned drilling will take place on the two licenses approved by MEM. While the remaining five licenses are not yet approved for issuance, this will not affect the upcoming exploration progamme as those areas are outside the pending NOW.

Once NOW approval is received, road opening and site preparation will commence with the drilling expected to begin approximately 2 – 3 weeks later. The drilling strategy will include open holes to determine seam locations, with select holes twinned by core holes to acquire samples for evaluating coal quality.

Phase 1 drilling is expected to last no more than three weeks, with coal quality results available four weeks after final drilling. Once the results have been reviewed, Jameson plans to commence phase 2 of the exploration programme following the spring breakup period.

In an interview, Jameson CEO Art Palm, said: “The good news with Dunlevy is the decision [by MEM] to approve tenure for the two most important Dunlevy license applications, which was received December 27^th. When we first acquired the project in 2011, we expected to start exploration before now, but our wait should soon be over.”

“We plan to engage in discussions with MEM regarding maximising the size of the Dunlevy project by gaining approval of further mining licenses,” Palm concluded. 

Edited from various sources by Sam Dodson

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/07012014/jameson_resources_dunlevy_project_makes_headway_382/