Atrum Coal Quarterly Activities Report - 31 March 2014
Perth, April 28, 2014 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Atrum Coal NL ("Atrum" or the "Company") (
ASX:ATU) (ATRCF:OTCMKTS) is pleased to report the Company's activities for the quarter ended 31 March 2014 in relation to its 100% owned metallurgical coal projects located in British Columbia, Canada.
Commenting on the quarterly achievements, Chairman James Chisholm stated:
"We are moving forward with our plans at Groundhog at an accelerated pace. We are focused on commencement of trial mining through a bulk sample program and delivery of 'first coal on ship' by the end of the year."
GROUNDHOG ANTHRACITE PROJECT
The Groundhog Anthracite Project (Groundhog) is located in the Groundhog Coalfield in the northern part of the Bowser Basin in north-western British Columbia, approximately 890 km northwest of Vancouver, 150 km northeast of Stewart, and 300 km northeast of Prince Rupert. The Groundhog project comprises 22 granted coal licenses covering an area of 13,776 hectares and 4 coal licence applications covering an area of 9,039 hectares, providing a total land holding of 22,815 hectares.
In January 2014, the Company announced the acquisition of an additional eleven (11) coal licence applications covering an area of 15,554 hectares, providing for an expanded strategic land holding of 38,369 hectares.
Groundhog is prospective for high ranking anthracite coal suitable for application to the steel and ferroalloy industries.
The Groundhog project is located in close proximity to key mining infrastructure including rail, port, road, power and water facilities. A rail easement or 'right-of-way' completed by the British Columbia Railway ("BCR") foundation runs adjacent to the project for approximately 30km southwards. At this point it connects with existing rail, at the Minaret Terminus, and continues on to the dedicated coal terminals at the deep sea ports of Prince Rupert and Port Metro Vancouver.
CN Rail operates under a long term lease arrangement with BCR, and operates the rail line between Prince George and Port of Prince Rupert and on the Dease Lake Line to Minaret.
ANTHRACITE RESOURCES
The JORC resources at Groundhog are currently 1.57Bt, as summarised in the table below:
--------------------------------------------JORC Category Upgraded Resource (Mt)--------------------------------------------Measured 16Indicated 553Inferred 998Total 1,567Mt--------------------------------------------
Anthracite resource estimation parameters:
- 0.3m seam thickness cut-off
- 100m river setback
Groundhog is amenable to both shallow adit / underground and open cut mining with 415Mt occurring between 0 and 100m depth and 90% of the total 1.57Bt resource occurring between 0 and 300m depth.
The table below illustrates the depth cut-off of the JORC resource at Groundhog:
----------------------------------------JORC Resource Breakdown By Depth (Mt)----------------------------------------< 50m 154< 100m 415< 200m 993< 300m 1,420Unrestricted 1,567----------------------------------------
JORC Resource at Groundhog by depth
ANTHRACITE QUALITY
The anthracite quality results received from the 2013 PFS / infill drilling program at Groundhog were excellent and are in line with 2012 results. Wash yields on the anthracite produced at Groundhog range from 57% to 83% for a range of potential ultra-high grade and high grade anthracite, and ultra-low volatile PCI products.
Sub 10% ash anthracite lumps and fines target product mix for the bulk sample is expected to achieve yields of >57% (with further optimisation expected), very low inherent moisture, volatile matter content of less than 5%, fixed carbon in excess of 84% and low sulphur content (~0.6%).
Anthracite quality results at the two preferred bulk sample locations, based on 2013 data, is shown in the table in link below and clearly demonstrates ultra-high grade.
A comparison of the potential anthracite specifications (notably carbon) at Groundhog with Chinese BF Coke, which is an essential input into blast furnace steel production, indicates an exceptional product on all specifications. High grade and ultra-high grade anthracite is a widely used input in the steel manufacturing process replacing between 10% and 30% of metallurgical coke used in the blast furnace.
Anthracite is also used in the manufacture of specialty steels and alloys, electric arc furnaces, ore sintering, charge carbon, reductant and cathode pastes as an alternative to graphite.
EXPLORATION ACTIVITIES UPDATE
In late-February 2014, the Company commenced its ground based seismic program which was designed to model the different coal seams above and below the key #70 seam based on the different densities and conductivity of the anthracite seams, including the high quality #70 seam and the #40 seam.
The initial target area of the ground based seismic was the planned bulk sample locations with the seismic to take place as a precursor to the commencement of the current concentrated drill program. This would enable the Company to use the data from the ground based seismic program to confirm the results of the interpretation using the drilling information and geophysical logs of the completed drill holes.
To view figures, diagrams and the full quarterly activities report, please visit:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-ATU-675136.pdf
About Atrum Coal Limited
Atrum Coal Limited (ASX:ATU) is a metallurgical coal developer. The Company flagship asset is the 100%-owned Elan Hard Coking Coal Project in southern Alberta, Canada. Elan hosts large-scale, shallow, thick, hard coking coal (HCC) deposits with a current JORC Resource Estimate of 298 Mt (70 Mt Indicated and 228 Mt Inferred). Comprehensive quality testing of Elan South coal on samples from the 2018 exploration program, combined with review of substantial historical testwork data for the broader Elan Project, has confirmed Tier 1 HCC quality.
The initial focus for development is the Elan South area, which is located approximately 13 km from an existing rail line with significant excess capacity, providing direct rail access to export terminals in Vancouver and Prince Rupert. Elan South shares its southern boundary with Riversdale Resources Grassy Mountain Project, which is in the final permitting stage for a 4.5 Mtpa open-cut HCC operation. Around 30km to the west, Teck Resources operates five mines (the Elk Valley complex) producing approximately 25 Mtpa of premium HCC for the seaborne market.
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