Kopex to add US$1m to expand drilling program at TCM

Polish underground coal group PT Kopex Mining Contractors has committed a further US$1 million to fund the expanded drilling program at PT Transcoal Minergy (TCM) coal project in South Kalimantan, a flagship of Australia-listed firm Pan Asia Corporation Ltd.

Pan Asia CEO Alan Hopkins said that the funding would be used for the completion of final feasibility study at TCM coal project which was expected to end on March 2012.

?Kopex?s strong commitment to the TCM project supports its rapidly rising potential with the final feasibility study continuing to make good progress,? Hopkins said in press statement.

In April 2011, Kopex entered into an agreement with Pan Asia to co-fund the accelerated infill drilling program and final feasibility study at the TCM Project.

Kopex?s total commitment to date towards the drilling program at the TCM Project now stands at US $1.6 million.

In October 2011, the Company upgraded its initial JORC Resource at the TCM Project to 114.6 million tonnes.

The company said that the coal quality model would be further updated when all the coal quality results were in for the current drilling program, adding that the washability tests and subsequent analysis of the results had been undertaken on a 500 kg bulk sample to develop a conceptual Coal Handling and Preparation Plant design.

It said that further testwork and analysis of all the quality data would lead to a specification of a saleable product, targeting TS of 1.0 with good yield. (romel)