PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Coal miner Atrum Coal has been granted an exploration permit for the Elan South project, in Canada, from the Alberta Energy Regulator.
Atrum in August last year entered into a share sale deed to acquire Canada’s Elan Coal’s properties in Alberta. As consideration for Elan, the vendors would receive C$3.1-million in cash, while Atrum subsidiary Kuro Coal Canada would also issue some A$3.65-million in scrip.
In November, the ASX-listed company reported a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource of 36-million tonnes at the Elan South area.
Atrum told shareholders on Friday that the new exploration permit was valid for a period of two years, and allowed the company to conduct field exploration and drilling activities to define coal resources, reserves and mining plans for the area.
“We are excited to receive our coal exploration permit for Elan South as it is a significant milestone in our overall plan for the project,” said Atrum MD Max Wang.
“We have begun detailed 2018 field programme planning, including drilling, coal quality testing, geological modelling and analytical work, and expect to start the field work soon after site becomes accessible in May 2018.”
Atrum is on target to complete the Elan acquisition by the end of March.