Continental Coal to continue Botswana coal exploration with licence renewal 

(MENAFN - ProactiveInvestors - Australia) Continental Coal (ASX: CCC) has renewed its three coal Prospecting Licences in Botswana for a further two years, allowing it to move ahead with the next phase of exploration planning.

"The renewal of the prospecting licenses that make up our Serowe and Kweneng Coal Projects in Botswana is another positive step forward for the Company," chief executive officer Don Turvey said.

"With the JORC Compliant Resource that we have already delineated and the larger Exploration Target that has been determined by our geological consultants, our Botswana projects have the potential to be significant assets for the Company and we can now move forward with our next phase of exploration planning."

He added the renewal was timely in light of a number of positive developments in Botswana's emerging coal sector.

Botswana projects

Continental's Serowe Coal Project is located immediately north of Botswana's only major producing thermal coal mine, the Morupule Coal Mine, whilst the Kweneng Project is 25 kilometres west of CIC Energy's Mmamabula Coal Project that was recently acquired by Jindal Steel and Power Ltd of India for US116 million.

Kweneng has a Inferred Resource of 2.2 billion tonnes while both Kweneng and Serowe have a combined Exploration Target of more than 9 billion tonnes.

Phase 1 drilling completed in early 2012 and subsequent geological modelling has confirmed there are shallow coal seam areas at Serowe that are suitable for open cast mine development.

Coal washability tests have also confirmed the potential for low grade thermal coal exports from the Kweneng Coal Project.

The renewal allows Continental to finalise its proposed Phase 2 exploration drilling program across both projects that seeks to increase existing resources, increase the level of confidence in the extent, continuity and quality of the known resources as well as to convert a significant portion of the Exploration Target into JORC Resources.

It also allows the company to advanced its discussions with several strategic parties that have already expressed an interest in exploration activities across both Serowe and Kweneng.