Straits hopes to boost Sebuku coal reserves
Tuesday, May 31 2005 - 03:15 AM WIB
Straits CEO Milan Jerkovic said in an interview with Corporatefile released Tuesday that currently, with production rate of 3 million tones per annum, Sebuku?s coal reserves could last for 6 years.
?We?ve reviewed all geological data and undertaken some initial drill testing on concepts around the Sebuku basin and the peripheral areas. We?ll probably have a lot more to say about that in the next six months when we?ve completed some deeper drilling and further assessment of the data, but we believe that the potential to expand resources and then reserves at Sebuku is significant. We have recently identified an additional seam below the northern pits which, if it proves to be continuous right through that whole northern area, could add anywhere between 20% and 30% to our resource base. We have also identified a new target to the north of our current coal area that appears to contain further coal seams,? Jerkovic said.
He further said that Sebuku would be able to produce 3 MTPA of coal this year, tapping significantly higher coal prices, despite only being able to produce 626,000 tones of coal in the first quarter.
?There are a number of things that we?re doing to achieve the production and sales targets. We have looked at equipment efficiency and utilization. We are mobilizing a sixth mining fleet and have just commissioned a second crushing screen circuit adding further flexibility to the bypass circuit at the washplant. Those efforts combined are expected to give us a sustainable 3 million tones per year production rate. We didn?t expect to be at the 3 million tones rate in the first six months this year given the cyclical nature of weather patterns in Indonesia and the production ramp up,? he said.
Straits has 100 percent shares in PT.Bahara Cakrawala Sebuku, the Sebuku mine operator. (alex)