Hunnu Coal doubles Unst Khudag thermal coal resource

By Esmarie Swanepoel

PERTH:Mongolian coal developer Hunnu Coal has doubled the resource for its Unst Khudag thermal coal project to 676-million tons.

Hunnu said on Friday that around 540.9-million tons fell within the measured category, while 59.9-million tons fell into the indicated category, and a further 75.6-million tons fell in the inferred category.

Further upgrades to the Joint Ore Reserve Committee (Jorc) resource model were expected in the latter half of 2011, with additional drilling currently under way.

Hunnu reported that it was also developing a scoping study for the Unst Khudag mine, where between 10-million and 20-million tons of coal a year would be delivered to the Chinese border, over a 20-year life-of-mine.

The developer said that the company was in advanced discussions for offtake agreements with a number of potential buyers of Unst Khudag coal.

The latest resource drilling brought Hunnu’s total Jorc resource across all its Mongolian projects to around 766-million tons, with an initial estimate currently being calculated for the Altai Nuurs hard coking coal project, which has an exploration target of between 250-million and 500-million tons.

A resource upgrade was also currently being completed for the Tsant Uul project, which currently hosts a Jorc resource of 90-million tons.

Edited by Mariaan Webb, miningweekly