Churchill raises estimates of resource at Indonesian mine

18th May 2009 15:27

Churchill Mining has upped its resource estimate for its 75% owned East Kutai Coal Project in Indonesia by more than 100% after extending its drilling area.The company said the global resource at the project is now 3.18bn tonnes of thermal coal, of which 1.4bn tonnes is compliant with the definitions of the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC). Churchill expects the whole of the resource to be upgraded into JORC compliant categories by the end of June.Coal quality in the latest round of drilling is much the same as previous drill samples, with the coal defined as medium calorific, with low sulphur and low ash content. 'This result confirms our first impression since we started drilling in Kalimantan, that Churchill has discovered a huge new coal system which ultimately will have a significant strategic value to power providers who require big volumes of coal supply. The company continues to actively engage energy groups with large balance sheets to progress our plans to mine this large resource,' said Paul Mazak, managing director of Churchill Mining.