PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Coal miner Whitehaven Coal has reported a maiden Joint Ore Reserves Committee compliant reserve of 350-million tonnes at its Winchester South metallurgical coal project, in Queensland.
The project’s resource has been upgraded to 1.1-billion tonnes, from the 530-million tonnes previously estimated, which includes 665-million tonnes of resource in the measured and indicated categories.
MD and CEO Paul Flynn on Wednesday said that the declaration of resource and reserves for the Winchester South project was an important milestone which provided further confidence around resource definition and the various options to ensure the company maximized shareholder returns.
Winchester South is currently expected to have a mine life of more than 20 years, based on the production of 15-million tonnes a year run-of-mine, with the project expected to cost around A$980-million to develop.
The project is currently progressing through the Queensland government’s coordinated project approval process, with the draft environmental impact statement having been submitted for review ahead of public notification.