Sebuku boosts coal resource

Australian miner Straits Resources Limited announced on Friday a substantial increase in resources at its Sebuku coal mine in South Kalimantan following success with the current drilling programme.

The company said in an announcement that Sebuku have increased from 18 million tonnes at 31 December 2004 to 24.9 million tonnes as at 30 July 2005. Taking depletion during 2005 into account, total resources have increased by some 8.8 million tonnes or 49%.

Straits? CEO Milan Jerkovic, said the resource upgrade at Sebuku would extend the life of mine (LOM) by pproximately 3 years to 7- 8 years at current production rate of 3 MTPA.

?Historically, the conversion rate from resources to reserves has been very high at Sebuku, and so the company is confident that a high proportion of the new resources will convert to reserves," he said.

?Furthermore, the resources are likely to increase in the future and Straits will now look at increasing production above the current 3 mtpa rate in 2006.

?As this resource drilling is work in progress, more upgrades can be expected as the work programme progresses. However, it will be at least 12 to 18 months before the full drill out is completed and the total extent of further resource upgrades becomes apparent,? Jerkovic added.(alex)