BACKERS of the proposed Dartbrook coal mine have more than doubled their estimate of potential coal reserves to 2.5 billion tonnes in the space of a year.
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Australian Pacific Coal has told the Australian Stock Exchange it sees potential for a “long mine life, low strip ratio open cut mining operation at Dartbrook”, after a new coal resource estimate (CRE) that greatly expands a May, 2016 estimate of 1.2 billion tonnes.
The expanded estimate is based in part on the most recent CRE increasing the modelling depth to 450 metres, from the previous report’s 350 metre calculation.
The CRE by geologist Lynne Banwell of GPPH & Associates told the ASX that Dartbrook has 588 million tonnes in measured coal reserves, 850 million tonnes in indicated reserves and 1097 million tonnes in inferred resources.
Australian Pacific Coal chief executive officer John Robinson said the report “confirms Dartbrook is one of the largest under-developed coal deposits in the Hunter Valley”.
“This reaffirms our long-held belief that Dartbrook is a tier one surface mining asset,” Mr Robinson said.
The ASX advice follows a report to the ASX on May 8 in which the company said it had “decided not to proceed with the identified underground mine plan for Dartbrook at this time”, based on underground coal reserve data.
“However, a final decision on underground mining at Dartbrook is yet to be made by the company,” Australian Pacific Coal said in May.
Company representatives did not respond to Herald questions in May about whether Australian Pacific Coal would bring forward plans to operate Dartbrook as an open cut coal mine, but Mr Robinson’s media statement this week confined comment on future operations at the Dartbrook site to open cut mining.
Upper Hunter Shire Council councillor and representative on the Dartbrook community consultative committee, Kiwa Fisher, said in May that he doubted whether any coal would be mined from Dartbrook.
He rejected suggestions of even a scaled-back open cut mine operation.
“A little open cut mining will meet with very large opposition,” he said.
Australian Pacific Coal is backed by Trepang Services, which is owned by pearling baron Nick Paspaley and property developer John Robinson.
Dartbrook was mothballed in 2006 after three deaths in the underground operation over 12 years, and after problems with gas, groundwater and spontaneous combustion caused “unanticipated operational difficulties at the mine”, according to a Department of Planning assessment report in 2009.
