JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX- and JSE-listed Firestone Energy and its joint-venture (JV) partner, Sekoko Coal, have acquired surface rights to a farm that formed an important part of its Waterberg coal project.

The JV had acquired the surface rights of the 1 160 ha Smitspan farm, in the Waterberg region, which it said contained the majority of the continuous coal sequence contained under all six farms that formed part of the JV agreement, signed by the parties in July.

“The acquisition of the surface rights on Smitspan is a major step forward in enabling the JV to proceed in due course with the establishment of the commencement of this new coal mine,” Firestone chairperson John Dreyer said in a statement on Friday.

The JV was planning to start a small-scale mining operation at a rate of 60 000-t/m run-of-mine by the end of the year. This was expected to yield between 30 000 t/m and 40 000 t/m of saleable coal.

The small mining operation would provide a starter pit for a large-scale 18-million tons a year operation, which was expected to start ramping up in 2011.

The JV has successfully intersected coal sequence in all of the 85 exploration drill holes on the Smitspan property, Firestone stated, adding that it would soon release a resource update from the last completed drilling programme.

The Australian company noted the focus of the JV’s prefeasibility study for the project, which would soon be completed, had been primarily focused and priorities on the Smitspan property.

The property was centrally located to all the farm properties owned by the JV and was located within 14 km from the main rail infrastructure and 15 km from Eskom’s new 4 800 MW Medupi coal-fired power station.