Balamara Resources strikes it rich

Balamara Resources is on track to publish an upgraded JORC Mineral Resource estimate for its Sawin Coal Project in southeast Poland after receiving results from recent in-fill resources drilling.

The company has now completed the first four holes of the in-fill programme with results outlining a zone of 2 m thick coal – which is considerably thicker and more consistent than previously identified or modelled.

Historical drilling by the Polish Geological Institute allowed Balamara to announced initial inferred resources of 1.2 billion t last year. The subsequent in-fill drilling started in last 2015 and aims to provide a more complete picture of the deposit.

“The results is important as the delineation of this significant thick coal seam will allow Balamara to focus its production strategy within this zone during the first decade of Sawin production, allowing for greater tonnages of coal to be produced at lower unit costs than previously anticipated,” said the company.

Sawin is the company’s flagship project within its portfolio of Polish assets. The company is expected to announce a revised prefeasibility study based on the new data in the near term. The Sawin producet is located in Southwest Poland next to Prairie Mining’s Lublin Coal Project and the Bogdanka coal mine.

Bogdanka is the lowest-cost coal mine in Poland, while Prairie’s prefeasibility study for its Lublin project also shows very low operating costs.

The recent results at Sawin “will significantly enhance the project,” said Balamara’s Managing Director, Mike Ralston. “We now have the opportunity to deliver a substantially improved Net Present Value with a revised PFS for Sawin.”

“Balamara’s strategy has also been to identify the highest-quality advanced coal assets in Poland that can be brought into production relatively quickly and relatively low capital cost,” continued Ralston. “Savin is undoubtedly our flagship assets but the overall portfolio is fast emerging into what we consider to be the next substantial low-cost producer in Europe, at exactly the time when incumbent state-owned coal operations in Poland are struggling to remain in production due to their higher costs.”

Edited by Jonathan Rowland.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/exploration-development/16052016/balamara-resources-strikes-it-rich-2016-782/