Mining and Heavy Industries

Coal find a win for bold junior

Coal. Photo: Shutterstock

Solid JORC results for coking coal junior Vitrinite have been hailed as the payoff for bold investments during the recent period of slumping prices for the commodity.

Vitrinite, which was exploring undeveloped tenements in the Bowen Basin during some of the toughest times in the commodities market, announced this week the discovery of 123 million tonnes of surface accessible JORC Code Inferred Coal Resources on one of its Karin Basin coking coal sites.

The explorer has completed drilling at 49 locations on tenement EPC1241, intersecting multiple coal seams that range up to 5 metres thick. Structural stacked coal accumulations are locally up to 16 metres thick, the company added.

“[The] coal is export quality coking type with two initial coking product options as well as thermal by-product, as determined by interpretation of laboratory analysis of core samples,” the company explained on May 22.

EPC1241 is also well placed logistically. The Emerald-Clermont rail line crosses the tenement, and it is just 23 kilometres from established coal export rail links.

Vitrinite managing director Nick Williams spruiked the find in an exclusive interview with the AFR on Monday, saying people told him he was “crazy” when Vitrinite ramped up exploration during the mining slump.

Now, Williams reportedly told the paper, the coking coal market is back in a good place, and his company is primed to take advantage.

“There is a general buzz in our industry,” Williams was quoted as saying. “People would like to see the price steady and be a bit more consistent for more investors [to] pour in. But the general consensus is we have hit bottom and things are looking up.”

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