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Solid Energy looks to develop more Buller coking coal resources
3 December 2008, Sources: Solid Energy and Lindsay Clark - Solid Energy has reappraised its hard coking coal reserves on the Buller coal field in light of current prices for the coal which it exports from the Stockton mine.
Reserves in the proposed Cypress opencast mine in the Upper Waimangaroa and at Millerton in the Stockton mine have been confirmed, Solid Energy says in its annual report.
Mining Millerton is expected to add 10 years to Stockton’s production life, the company says.
The work includes the potential for a coal washery at Stockton which could process and upgrade about 5.5 million tonne of currently stockpiled lower-quality coal. A feasibility assessment of the washery is to be completed by the middle of 2009.
The Stockton Coal Mining Licence area, where Solid Energy plans to mine through historic workings, would also access a further 4.5 million tonne which can be processed in the proposed washery.
An exploration permit near Waimangaroa was drilled and the company acquired a mining permit at Charleston during the year.
Solid Energy said it had also explored hard coking and thermal coal prospects in the Reefton and Murchison areas.
Further south on the West Coast drilling continued to extend and develop reserves at the Spring Creek underground mine in the Grey coalfield which Solid Energy is developing in partnership with international trader Cargill.
The Spring Creek mine currently has four years of proven reserves and it is planned to extend the mine north-west into the Rapahoe Block to access more than 10 million tonne of resources.
Solid Energy carried out more studies of the hard coking coal resource in the Grey coalfield, east of the former Strongman Mine in the Mt Davy mining permit, where resources exceed 30 million tonnes.
