South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources has given its consent for the transfer of the prospecting right that is required by dual-listed Continental Coal to start exploration at its Vaalbank project.
The project is a 50:50 joint venture between Continental and Total Coal South Africa subsidiary Forzando Coal.
Under the terms of a joint exploration programme, the companies will start a two-phase exploration programme, comprising 20 exploration holes, on approval by both companies.
“Obtaining the consent to transfer the prospecting right for our Vaalbank coal exploration project now allows Continental and Forzando Coal to commence with the detailed planning and scheduling of the exploration programme.
“Initial review studies indicated the potential for an economic mineable resource and we believe the proposed exploration programme will not only support this but also provide the initial data required to commence with a prefeasibility study,” commented Continental CEO Don Turvey.