Universal Coal (ASX: UNV) has confirmed the presence of coking coal from assay results at the Berenice and Cygnus projects in South Africa, boosting its exploration target for the projects to 700-800 million tonnes.
Large diameter (LD) diamond drilling has now commenced aiming to produce samples for specialised coking coal test work to further understand the coking characteristics and ultimately the type of coking coal present.
Four drill rigs are currently operational, undertaking a 46 diamond drillhole program, scheduled for completion in June 2011.
A total of 24 slim diameter (HQ size) holes have been completed and drilling continues to confirm the presence of a 35m-40m thick coal zone from sub-outcrop (less than 20m depth) up to 200m below surface.
The company said the "coal zone consists of inter-bedded bright coal and carbonaceous mudstone with a number of coal-rich horizons containing between 40% and 50% coal."
Washability test results have been received for the first nine holes with at least three consistently developed coal-rich horizons present with seam widths of 0.5m-1.75m, 2.5m-3.5m and 4.0m-4.5m respectively.
At wash densities of less than 1.45 g/cm3, these seams contain hard coking coal properties, including Free Swelling Indices (an indicator of coking tendency) of 7 to 9.
The Roga Indices (an indicator of caking properties) and volatile matter contents are similarly high, ranging from 80 to 90, and 32% to 35%, respectively.
The coal has low inherent moisture content (0.9%-2.0%), an ash content of 8%-13% and moderate sulphur content (0.9%-1.2%).
Also, semi-soft coking properties are evidenced in the higher density fractions with Free Swelling Indices of between 6 and 2 being observed at densities of between 1.50 g/cm3 and 1.70 g/cm3.
The coal qualities may not be representative of the potential resource as they have only been extracted from the results obtained to date.
In other important news, the Department of Mineral Resources has approved the cession (Section 11) of the Berenice-Somerville Prospecting right to the joint venture company Universal Coal Development 2 (Pty) Ltd.
The Berenice and Somerville prospects offer coking coal potential and exploration upside with drilling expected to substantially upgrade the resource.
In January BGF Equities placed a BUY on Universal with a $1.00 price target. Universal shares last traded at $0.47.