Perpetual intersects anthracite grade coal in Sumatra project
Tuesday, October 1 2013 - 04:07 AM WIB
ASX-listed Perpetual Resources Limited announced completion of its diamond drilling campaign in Sumatra with all holes intersecting the target coal seam.
Drilling commenced on June 30 at the Painan coal project located in Sumatra. A total of 458.5m was cored with all eight holes intersecting the target coal seam, the company said in a statement received Tuesday.
The key highlight using a 58 percent fixed carbon cut-off is the identification of anthracitic grade coal in 13 of the 38 samples assayed. Anthracite comprises perhaps less than 1 percent of known coal deposits in the world and commands a very high price. Anthracite coal currently sells for two to three times as much as regular coal.
The statement explained that seam intersections are complex in that many coal plies with variable thickness of carbonaceous black shale partings constitute the complete seam at both pit areas. Sampling was conducted with lengths selected to provide representative coverage of coal and the partings in the first five holes and only coal greater than 10cm in length was composited in the last four holes (that included a redrill of CC3).
Some of the complete coal samples have returned anthracite- high thermal grade indications, while the mixed samples are of obvious lower quality. Sink-float tests on a composite sample are underway in the laboratory and will indicate how much coal product can be washed from the total seam. Anthracite seams greater than 0.5m in thickness can be selectively mined and the intention is to use a wash plant to process the remainder of the seam. This methodology will focus on producing anthracite and a separate high grade thermal coal product.
At Pit 1 the coal seam strikes 078? and dips at 21?N. At Pit 2 the coal seam strikes 075? and dips at 16?N. There are two possible scenarios regarding stratigraphic correlation between the two pit areas; either Pit 2 is a NW faulted extension of the Pit 1 area or there is another seam in the hanging wall of the Pit 1 seam. Resolution of these possibilities will require additional drilling.
The old Pit 1 mining slot has been surveyed and this data, along with all drilling data, is with a JORC Code compliant resource specialist where resource estimation is underway. Results of this exercise will not be completed until the sink float test results are to hand.
Editing by Reiner SImanjuntak