It is reported that a drilling campaign on Straits Asia Resources’ coal properties in Kalimantan has resulted in a resource upgrade to more than 1.4 billion tonnes.
The campaign has resulted in coal resources at Jembayan increasing 100% from 254 million tonnes to 504 million while resources at Sebuku increased 240% from 382 million tonnes to 928 million. The results form part of an extensive, long-term exploration program at the Jembayan mine. The 2009 phase of the program consisted of up to 15 drill rigs and covered almost 40% of the tenements at Jembayan, in addition to the 35% covered in 2008.
Due to the almost complete coverage of the Jembayan property by coal sequences, the primary focus in 2009 was to understand the coal resources to the fullest extent of the tenure. This broad brush picture of the resource base was essential to form the foundation of long-term mining plans.
The group can now focus on the next stage of the program to convert the resource blocks into reserves, thus providing a robust inventory for sustained production from the mine. This year the focus of exploration at Jembayan has shifted to a more detailed, infill drilling program within the new resource blocks to provide a steady conversion to reserves.
At Sebuku Straits Asia continued to explore the coal formations that form part of the Western Leases in the Sebuku Strait, which is a relatively shallow stretch of water between Sebuku Island and Laut Island. The mean water depth in the strait is about 3 metres. The majority of the drilling was undertaken within the northern part of the Western Leases tenement covering an area of just over 2500 hectares. Drilling was completed over 7 kilometer along the coastline of the island and up to 2.5 kilometer from the shore.
Drilling has now intercepted the entire sequence of coal seams for more than13 kilometer along the island’s western shoreline. In addition Straits Asia also completed more detailed infill drilling over the southern part of the Western Leases tenement. In this area the main coal sequence consists of 14 minor and major seams with a cumulative thickness of about 16.5 metres. The coal sequence is divided into 3 main packages with a vertical extent of about 60 metres. The major seam has a consistent thickness of about 7 metres. The complete sequence has now been intercepted consistently over 4500 hectares.
The company is also working on a pre-feasibility study to consider the various options available to recover the significant coal resources identified in the Western Leases tenements.
