Coalworks has drilled three of the seven phase 1 drill holes targeting open pit and underground coking thermal coal at the Ferndale Project, with multiple seams intersected in both the Newcastle Coal Measures and upper and middle Wittingham Coal Measures. The Best hole intersected 9 seams greater than 1.5 meters thick in the upper and middle Wittingham Coal Measures, with a cumulative coal thickness of 22 meters. Ferndale is located at Yarrawa in the prime Hunter Valley coal area in New South Wales and is 90% owned by Coalworks. The deposit at Yarrawa is about 8 kilometers southwest of Denman, near Muswellbrook, and is prospective for export coking and thermal coal. It is close to rail, road and port infrastructure and is about 125 kilometers from the port of Newcastle.
Mr Andrew Firek MD & CEO of Coalworks said that "This news increases our confidence in our resource target, especially in view of this added potential occurring in the quality Wittingham Coal Measures, where we target semi-soft coking and PCI coals. This work provides a foundation for a maiden resource at Ferndale."
Current underground drilling targets include the upper Wittingham Coal Measures at depths greater than 150 meters, with the targeted coal seams being the Whybrow, Wambo, Whynot and Blakefield seams which are prospective for export thermal, semi soft coking and PCI purposes. Hole FD004 has been recently completed, and the results will be reported once verified. The redrill of FD001 has reached in excess of 40 meters depth and will be cored through all coal bearing sequences down into the upper portion of the Wittingham Coal Measures. Resource estimation is ongoing during Phase 1 drilling operations.
The resource model is constantly being upgraded as drilling data is acquired. Results from FD003 have lead to an increase in underground mining potential. This increase was due to FD003 intersecting the Arrowfield, Piercefield Lower and Broonie Upper seams, with thicknesses above the 1.5 meters minimum value used for underground mining potential at Ferndale. Samples of these seams have been collected during drilling to assess the quality of these additional seams, which may increase the exploration target estimation once laboratory results are received. The current target at Ferndale is 250 million tonnes to 330 million tonnes which includes 50 million tonnes to 80 million tonnes open pit coal in the Newcastle Coal Measures at depths of between 20 meters and 70 meters, with the targeted coal seams being the Great Northern and Fassifern seams, which are recognized as having thermal potential in some areas of the Hunter Valley.
These seams are present in some areas to the west of FD003. The seams of the NCM generally contain stone bands. The level of intra-seam stone banding in the NCM will need to be determined by setting maximum thickness limits. Coal core samples of several seams in the NCM have been taken, and will be analyzed to determine whether they are economically viable. The potential quantity and quality is conceptual in nature, and there has been insufficient exploration to define a Mineral Resource.
Further exploration is planned with an aim to upgrade the exploration target into a resource. When the results of FD004 are finalized, the resource model and exploration target estimations will be reviewed.
(Sourced from www.proactiveinvestors.com)
