Aquila upgrades Belvedere coal project

Australian miner, Aquila Resources Limited, has increased its resource base by more than a billion tonnes at its Belvedere Coal Project in Queensland. Aquila y has a 24.5% interest in the underground mining project.

SRK Consulting was commissioned to provide an independent evaluation of the Coal Resources of the Belvedere Coal Project.

The purpose of the evaluation was to provide an objective assessment of the Coal Resources in accordance with the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code), 2004, for public reporting; and a qualification of the potential utilisation of the Coal Resources within the mining leases considering all aspects affecting the recovery of the in-situ Resources.

The benchmark for this estimation is the Australian Guidelines for Estimating and Reporting of Inventory Coal, Coal Resources and Coal Reserves, 2003

The total Indicated and Inferred Resources for Belvedere is 3,866 Mt, including 1,526 Mt of Indicated Resources. This represents an increase of 1,211Mt of coal from the initial Resource statement which the Company reported in June 2005.

According to the company, this Resource evaluation work is based on the results from the $17 million Exploration Study previously completed by Vale at Belvedere, from which Vale based its decision to exercise an option to acquire a 51% interest in the project in May 2007.