PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Coal explorer Jameson Resources is intent on seeing its Crown Mountain and Dunlevy coking coal projects, in British Colombia, through to development, despite the interest it has garnered from several overseas markets.

MD John Holmes told Mining Weekly Online that Jameson had recently completed a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) of the Crown Mountain project, confirming that the operation could have a pre-tax net present value of some $845-million at a plant yield of 60%, with the mine plan encompassing some 76-million tons of the 90-million-ton resource.

Producing between 1.3-million tons and 1.9-million tons a year, the project was expected to have a life-of-mine of 24 years, Holmes said.

Capital costs for the Crown Mountain operation has been estimated at between $109-million and $284-million, depending on the various leasing scenarios.

With the PEA now completed, Jameson would look to start prefeasibility work on the project by the fourth quarter of this year, after undertaking further exploration work to define plant yield and coal quality. 

Drilling was expected to start late July.

Holmes also indicated that Jameson will be undertaking drilling on its Dunlevy project in the Peace River coalfield, where an exploration target of between 100-million and 150-million tons has been identified.

“We think the exploration target at Dunlevy is quite conservative as it is currently based on only one coal seam within the project area, with a further two seams already identified.  We are looking forward to commence drilling this summer following receipt of regulatory approvals. 

“The drill programme will confirm the number of seams, the seam thickness, and the coal quality at Dunlevy,” he said.

Jameson was expecting an exploration permit over the Dunlevy project within the current quarter, and was hoping to define a resource estimate before the end of the year.

Holmes pointed out that some $5-billion worth of merger and acquisition activity had taken place in the Peace River coalfield over the last two years. 

“Despite the level of interest from the Asian market, the company is keen to see the projects through to operation and is diligently pursuing all of the required exploration and development studies to ensure these projects get under way,”  he said.