Churchill says coal-bearing sequence up to 16.5 km defined at East Kutai

UK mining firm Churchill Mining announced Wednesday that its ongoing drilling programme at the East Kutai Coal Project in East Kalimantan has defined a coal-bearing sequence of approximately 11.5 kilometres along strike from the north-northwest to the south-southeast of the property.

The are covering approximately 3,489 hectares of the first target block (RTM), concession area, which represents the area of less than 10% of the four main coal target tenements, the company said.

A further 5 kilometres of strike potential of the present coal seams are indicated by the geological mapping and will be tested before the concession boundary is reached, it added.

Additional outcrops have been mapped within the RTP concession area to the south of the RTM concession area.

Ongoing drilling to the south of RTM, continues to outline areas of thick coal seams with recent individual intercepts of up to 25m with additional coal outcrops in a new promising area with the potential to host Churchill's second mine pit, it said .

In May 2007 Churchill announced a sales agreement had been entered into to purchase a 75% interest in the East Kutai Coal Project from PT Techno Coal Utama. Churchill has now extended the size of the project by 200 square kilometres by acquiring a 75% interest in the abutting tenements to the west of EKCP from the Investmine Group of Indonesia. Exploration and resource drilling continue along with scoping and pre-feasibility work. (alex)