Red Hill Coal Project Initial Resource Statement 75Mt
Insitu Coal
Highlights:
?
Initial Resource Statement 75 million
tonnes of insitu coal
?
Metallurgical Coal potential similar to
that being mined at Isaac Plains Coal Mine
?
Underground mining options and
Conceptual Mining Study in progress
Aquila Resources
Limited ("Aquila" or "the
Company") is pleased to announce the initial Resource Statement for its
wholly owned Red Hill Coal Project ("Red Hill").
The project is located towards the western side of the
northern Bowen Basin situated approximately 45 km north of the township of
Moranbah and between the Goonyella and Burton Coal operations as shown on
Figure 1.
Figure 1 Red
Hill Coal Project locality
Since September 2007, Aquila
has completed a review of available open file information and a field programme
including five 100mm partially cored quality holes and a total of 5,800m of
drilling within the project area. The aim of this work was to establish an
understanding of the stratigraphy within the project area in particular, with
respect to the continuity and quality of the Rangal Coal Measures which were
known to occur in the tenement. The coal horizons intersected included
the Rangal Coal Measures and the upper Fort Cooper Coal Measures. These host
the Leichhardt, Vermont
and Girrah seams.
Throughout most of the project area, the Leichhardt
coal seam comprises two seam groups, the Leichhardt Upper and the underlying,
stone-banded, Leichhardt Lower seams. Whilst future exploration programmes will
continue to test the extent and quality of the Leichardt Lower seam, it was not
continuously intersected during recent programmes and was not modelled as part
of the resource evaluation work.
The Leichardt Upper seam plies were intersected at the
western margin of the tenement at depths of
60-80m and found to thicken from an average of approximately 1.5m within the
central parts of the tenement to in excess of 2.5m with depth towards the north
and north eastern boundaries of the project area. The seams dip at
approximately 8? to the north east. Partings within plies are variable in
thickness. These partings thin substantially within the western margins of the
project area which remains the most prospective for initial development of the
project.
Within the Vermont
seam, which lies approximately 25m beneath the Leichardt, the Upper and Middle
plys remain the primary targets, appearing as relatively bright and clean coal.
These
plies typically carry improved coking properties from those of the Leichardt
which will be investigated in detail as part of the next phase of development
drilling. The Vermont
seam plies are typically 2.5m thick in total increasing down dip to
approximately 3m in the north and east.
Salva
Resources Pty Ltd was commissioned by Aquila to
independently develop a geological model to calculate an initial estimate of
Coal Resources of the Red Hill Coal Project, based on data supplied by the
Company. Open cut and underground Coal Resource estimates have been prepared
for the Leichhardt Upper seam and the Vermont Upper and Lower seams.
The purpose of this work was to allow:
?
An assessment of the Coal Resources in accordance with
the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral
Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code), 2004, for public reporting; and
?
A quantification of the potential utilisation of the
Coal Resources within the tenement considering all aspects affecting the
recovery of the in-situ Resources. The benchmark for this estimation is the
Australian Guidelines for Estimating and Reporting of Inventory Coal, Coal
Resources and Coal Reserves, 2003.
The
estimated Coal Resources, within the Red Hill Coal Project area total 75.0Mt
(which includes the Leichhardt and underlying Vermont
seams). The Resources fall within the Inferred confidence category as
summarised in Table 1 and Table 2 shows the distribution of Coal Resources with
depth.
Table
1 Total Insitu Coal Resource at the Red Hill Coal Project
Seam
|
Insitu Coal Resources (Mt)
|
Indicated
|
Inferred
|
Total Indicated and Inferred
|
LU
|
-
|
35.3
|
35.3
|
LU1
|
-
|
0.6
|
0.6
|
LU2
|
-
|
2.1
|
2.1
|
LU3
|
-
|
0.3
|
0.3
|
Total LU
|
-
|
38.3
|
38.3
|
VU
|
-
|
18.1
|
18.1
|
VM
|
-
|
5.4
|
5.4
|
VL
|
-
|
13.0
|
13.0
|
VL1
|
-
|
0.1
|
0.1
|
VL2
|
-
|
0.1
|
0.1
|
Total Vermont
|
-
|
36.7
|
36.7
|
Total
|
-
|
75.0
|
75.0
|
|
|
|
|
Table
2 Insitu Coal Resource by seam and depth interval
Seam
|
Tonnes (Mt)
|
Depth
|
<100m
|
100 to 200
|
200 to 300
|
>300
|
Total (Inferred tonnes)
|
Leichhardt
Upper
|
2.9
|
11.1
|
18.5
|
5.8
|
38.3
|
Vermont
|
0.4
|
10.5
|
19.9
|
5.9
|
36.7
|
Total
|
3.3
|
21.6
|
38.4
|
11.7
|
75.0
|
Average
raw coal qualities by seams area summarised in Table 3.
Table
3 Raw Coal Quality
Seam
|
Summary from Coal Quality model
|
Raw Coal
|
IM
%
|
Ash
%
|
Volatile Matter
%
|
Sulphur
%
|
Phos
%
|
Leichhardt
Upper
|
2.5
|
20.4
|
24.1
|
0.28
|
0.128
|
Vermont
Upper
|
2.6
|
20.9
|
27.0
|
0.60
|
0.148
|
Vermont
Lower
|
2.8
|
24.5
|
22.9
|
0.34
|
N/A*
|
*Note:
not reported at this stage
The
results from the exploration and quality assessment programmes completed by the
Company to date for the Red Hill Coal Project have focussed on the Leichhardt
seam qualities. This work indicates that the Leichhardt seam is generally a
medium volatile coal, with the potential to produce a primary product of low to
moderate ash (9.0-11.0%) with low sulphur (less than 0.3%) content.
Average CSN values from the test work were 4.3, indicating the
metallurgical coal potential from this seam. Whilst the average raw phosphorous
values have been reported in excess of 0.1%, a range of 0.031 to 0.380% has
been identified.
Based
on this work, the evaluation of potential underground mining options is
continuing and a Conceptual Mining Study is in progress. This work is
considering a number of development configurations including bord and pillar
and short longwall options. The third stage of exploration will focus on
further definition of the resource in the north and east of the project area
where the Leichhardt seam thickens, the assessment of quality of both the
Leichhardt and Vermont seam groups (including the distribution of phosphorous
across the resource) and the proposed box cut and initial underground
development of areas along the north western boundary of the Red Hill tenement.
Tony Poli
Executive
Chairman
For further information regarding this
announcement, please contact Tony Poli.
Telephone:
(08) 9423 0111
Facsimile:
(08) 9423
0133
Email address: mail@aquilaresources.com.au
Visit us at:
www.aquilaresources.com.au
The estimates of Coal Resources
for the Red Hill Underground Project presented in this announcement have
been carried out in accordance with the Australasian Code for Reporting of
Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code), 2004,
prepared by the Joint Ore Reserves Committee of The Australasian Institute of
Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and
The Australasian Institute of Geoscientists and Minerals Council of Australia,
December 2004. The information in this announcement that relates to Red Hill
Coal Resources, is compiled by Mr Blair Richardson
and modelled and reviewed by Mr Lyon Barrett. Mr Richardson is a full
time employee of Aquila Resources Ltd, with 25 years experience in geology and
over 15 years experience in resource evaluation. Mr Richardson is a member of
The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and has sufficient
experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit
under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a
Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the JORC Code. Mr Richardson
holds shares in Aquila Resources Ltd. Mr Barratt is a full time employee of
Salva Resources and has over 15 years experience in geology and over 10 years
experience in resource evaluation. Mr Barrett is a member of The Australasian
Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and has sufficient experience which is
relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration
and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as
defined in the 2004 Edition of the JORC Code. Mr Richardson and Mr Barrett
consent to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based on this
information in the form and context in which it appears.
***
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0455
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