Resources Prima reports lower coal reserves, resources in E. Kalimantan concession
Tuesday, April 12 2016 - 02:45 AM WIB
SGX-listed integrated coal mining firm Resources Prima Group Limited announced Tuesday the following updated estimates of coal reserves and coal resources for the mining concession area of its East Kalimantan coal subsidiary PT Rinjani Kartanegara (PT Rinjani) as at December 31, 2015, based on independent qualified person?s report (IQPR 12/15).
Coal Reserves and Coal Resources Estimates for the PT Rinjani Mining Concession Area as at December 31, 2015
Category |
Mineral Type | Gross Attributable to Licence(1) | Net Attributable to the Company(4) | |||
| Tonnes (millions) | Grade | Tonnes (millions) | Grade | Change from previous update(2) (%) | ||
| RESERVES(5) | ||||||
| Proved | Coal | 1.4 | Sub-bituminous B | 1.1 | Sub-bituminous B | -57% |
| Probable | Coal | 1.3 | Sub-bituminous B | 1.0 | Sub-bituminous B | 15% |
| Total | Coal | 2.7 | Sub-bituminous B | 2.2 | Sub-bituminous B | -38% |
| RESOURCES(3&5) | ||||||
| Measured | Coal | 11.3 | Sub-bituminous B | 9.0 | Sub-bituminous B | -19% |
| Indicated | Coal | 3.6 | Sub-bituminous B | 2.9 | Sub-bituminous B | -10% |
| Inferred | Coal | 4.7 | Sub-bituminous B | 3.8 | Sub-bituminous B | -1% |
| Total | Coal | 19.6 | Sub-bituminous B | 15.6 | Sub-bituminous B | -14% |
Although PT Rinjani has been granted a Production Operation IUP (mining business licence) to carry out coal mining operations in the mining concession area covering 1,933 ha, currently only an area covering 308.54 ha of the total mining concession area, has secured a permit to borrow and use forest area (IPPKH1) from the Indonesian Minister of Forestry. The permit to borrow and use forest area is required to allow the Group to clear forested land to commence mining operations at the mine site in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.
On January 8, 2016, the Group announced that PT Rinjani had, on January 6, 2016, received the in-principle approval for a new permit to borrow and use forest area covering an additional 899.47 ha of the PT Rinjani mining concession (IPPKH2). Currently, PT Rinjani is working with the Indonesian Minister of Forestry to, amongst others, (i) determine the approved area?s boundary coordinates; and (ii) measure and quantify the volume of plants and trees in cubic metres within the boundary?s coordinates, which are both pre-requisites for the issuance of the IPPKH2.
Due to a delay in the approval process for IPPKH2, it has been necessary for PT Rinjani to dump overburden waste outside the designated dumping areas specified in the life of mine plan. This waste dumping has resulted in the sterilisation of Coal Reserves amounting to approximately 1.1 Mt during the financial period from April 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015 (9MFYE15). This sterilisation, together with depletion due to production during 9MFYE15 and a positive reconciliation adjustment accounts for a 38 percent reduction in Coal Reserves reported as at December 31, 2015. A reconciliation analysis comparing the geological model coal tonnes against the actual production coal tons since the start of mining warranted a change to the coal recovery parameters that resulted in a positive reconciliation adjustment to the Coal Reserves estimate. The dumping locations for the waste overburden were selected so that the coal sterilised was of a higher strip ratio and therefore a higher extraction cost within the deposit.
Exploration within the PT Rinjani mining concession area has been limited by the boundary constraints of the current permit to borrow and use forest area (IPPKH1). Consequently, no additional exploration or development has been undertaken during 9MFYE15 in the mining concession area. Once IPPKH2 is obtained, the Group shall commence further exploration in the additional 899.47 ha area permitted under IPPKH2. This exploration may potentially lead to an increase in the Coal Resource and Coal Reserve estimates. Until the execution of this IPPKH2 focused exploration programme, there has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Coal Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a Coal Resource in the IPPKH2 area.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak