It is reported that Cougar Energy with the ongoing focus of successfully progressing its Queensland UCG Power project has been granted an Exploration Licence through its subsidiary for the Thar Coal Block III in the east of Sindh Province in Pakistan.

The announcement by Cougar Energy was made to inform shareholders of the progress of its 47.8% owned subsidiary, Cougar Energy UK, which advises that it has been granted an Licence by the Government of Sindh in Pakistan.

The Licence of 47.3 square kilometer covers an area of coal which potentially is suited to the development of an Underground Coal Gasification project for much needed power generation in the region.

It is located within Block III in which the Geological Survey of Pakistan had previously drilled 41 holes at approximately 1 kilometer spacing, all of which intersected coal seams varying in thickness from 8 meter to 23 meter at depths ranging from 115 meter to 205 meter.

The holes, of which 27 lie within the Licence area, were cored and geophysically logged, and the data has been compiled and reviewed, and is considered to be insufficient to meet JORC standards of resource definition.

As a result, a drilling program is currently being planned to establish an initial JORC resource in the range 100 million tonne to 200 million tonnes.

Mr Len Walker MD of Cougar Energy said the support of the institutions would minimize any financial exposure of Cougar UK in Pakistan and allowed the company to focus on delivering the required project.