Junior AfriOre (afo-v) will begin a program of drilling and geophysics at the newly joint-ventured Umgen coal deposit in South Africa’s Kwazulu-Natal province.
The Toronto-based junior recently completed an agreement with Tavistock Collieries, the wholly owned coal mining subsidiary of South African mining house JCI, to acquire a 55% interest in the deposit.
In return, AfriOre must spend $180,000 on exploration and development, including an imminent 1,500-metre drill program and a magnetic survey.
To date, 21 drill holes have tested the deposit. Based on data from these holes, an independent group of engineers from Witwatersrand University estimates that Umgen hosts an in situ resource of nearly 60 million tonnes.
The resources are contained within a seam varying in thickness from a few centimetres to more than 4 metres and stretching the entire length of the 1,562-ha property. The seam occurs at depths of between 40 and 200 metres below surface.
Initial indications, based on the study, are that the project can yield 20 million tonnes of marketable coal. Half of these potential reserves are expected to be in the form of anthracite, 30% as lean coal, and the remainder as coking coal.
AfriOre anticipates completion of a final feasibility study by the first quarter of 1998.
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