Cokal accelerates drilling program at C. Kalimantan coal project
Wednesday, June 15 2011 - 02:08 AM WIB
Two additional drill rigs have now commenced operation at the BBM Project, allowing the program to be accelerated and for drilling to be undertaken at multiple locations across the 19,920 ha prospective area, the company said.
Cokal's Executive Chairman Peter Lynch said the company was aiming to further increase the number of drill rigs operating at the BBM Project.
?Once core samples are recovered from the site they are dispatched to Australian laboratories for comprehensive analytical testing. While this adds significant lead time to the ultimate provision of detailed analyses, it ensures high confidence in the results,? Lynch said.
Cokal now has sufficient samples for analytical tests that the results of the initial drilling will be disclosed by June 30, 2011.
BBM, located immediately adjacent to BHP Billiton?s Juloi tenement, straddles the Barito River and has numerous outcrops of bright coal. An independent assessment by SRK Consulting stated the tenement was prospective for Low Vol PCI and Coking Coal.
Cokal commenced geological mapping across the project area in January 2011. Geologists recorded numerous exposures of the coal seams across the tenement. Much of the BBM lease has had little if any previous exploration activity.
Cokal has begun a comprehensive exploration program whereby the location of the coal outcrops have been used to plan a preliminary drilling program designed to delineate the stratigraphic sequence, the extent of the strike and dip of the coal seams, and sufficient cores to confirm the general coal quality attributes of the coal seams. To date, Cokal?s exploration field teams have mapped approximately, 60 percent of the lease area and recorded strike/dip data as well as numerous coal outcrop location.
The first drill rig commenced operation at BBM in March 2011. The drilling program initially focused on a single area close to the Barito River in an effort to sample the multiple seams present.
The extremely high vitrinite content of the coal can make core recovery extremely difficult in the Maruwai region. Cokal has worked with its drilling contractor in the initial stages to develop expertise and techniques to achieve high core recovery. This is required to ensure reliable coal quality analysis for subsequent resource estimation in accordance with the JORC Code. After assessing various drill bits and drilling techniques, the drill crews now regularly achieve a core recovery in excess of 95%. (romel)