Further upgrades to extend Blair Athol Mine life

Independent experts Xenith Consulting Pty Ltd (Xenith) and TerraCom have conducted further work since the last announcement in November 2016 and has been able to upgrade the total Blair Athol Mine JORC Reserves to 15.6 million t and increase the JORC Measured Resource to 21.9 million t. The coal reserves and resources have been estimated in accordance with the standards outlined in the JORC code (JORC, 2012) and the Coal Guidelines 2014.

Further work since TerraCom completed the acquisition of the Blair Athol Mine, which included the detailed assessment of all boreholes using historical data on site has enabled Xenith to extend the Reserves by 2.1 million t adding one extra year to mine life, which now totals 8 years based on ~2 million tpy, which is derived from the Reserves estimate presented in this announcement.

The JORC Resource has improved in confidence with the JORC Measured Resource increasing 9.5 million t from 12.4 million t to 21.9 million t.

TerraCom are in the process of further developing this increased JORC Measured Resource and plan to convert the economic areas of the Measured Resource into Reserves which could add an additional three to five years onto the Blair Athol Mine Life (based on 2million tpy, which is derived from the Reserves estimate presented in this announcement). The coal reserves and resources have been estimated in accordance with the standards outlined in the JORC code (JORC, 2012) and the Coal Guidelines 2014. Chairman Mr Wal King stated that “this reserve upgrade is significant for the Blair Athol Mine as it enables the mine plan to be extended to 8 years at 2 million tpy”. Mr King went on to say that “the measured resource upgrade is significant as it has the potential to increase the mine life for a further 3 to 5 years”. Reserves Coal reserves have been estimated in accordance with the requirements of the 2012 edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code). The estimate was compiled by a competent person from Xenith Consulting and has been signed off accordingly.

The marketable coal for Blair Athol Mine is thermal product only. Estimates have been made for the most likely split of the ROM coal to bypass or to process in the Coal Preparation Plant (CPP) to blend together to produce an export quality thermal coal at 12.5% ash on an air-dried basis (adb). This has formed the basis of an estimate of Marketable reserves that correspond to the ROM reserve estimates. Therefore, marketable coal reserves are a sub-set of coal reserves. All marketable reserves tonnages have been expressed on a washed moisture basis, which varies depending on the proportion of Bypass coal and is typically 17.7%.

Resources

Coal resources have been estimated in accordance with the requirements of the 2012 edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code). The estimate was compiled and a competent person from Xenith Consulting and has been signed off accordingly. The Coal Resource Estimate carried out in July and August 2017 for the Blair Athol Coal Mine was focused on the Seam 4 measured and indicated resource areas. In comparison with the previous JORC estimate from 2016, this update incorporates 41 additional points of observation (PoB) intersecting the Seam 4 Upper, and 31 PoB intersecting Seam 4 Lower. In this update 2017, the total coal resource remains 44 million t as estimated in October 2016. Considering the two Seam 4 plies (4U, 4L), this update shows an upgrade of 9.5 million t into the measured resource category, and 3 million t into the indicated category.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/mining/05092017/further-upgrades-to-extend-blair-athol-mine-life/