(MENAFN - ProactiveInvestors - Australia) Select Exploration (ASX: SLT) has confirmed a calorific value of up to 6,060 kilocalorie per kilogram (Kcal/kg) for outcropping coal within the Ruhuhu Project in southern Tanzania.
The analytical results for the company's trenching program showed a calorific value range of between 5,222Kcal/kg and 6,060kcal/kg, and an average of 5,883Kcal/kg.
Average values returned included 4.2% total moisture, 22.5% ash, 30% volatile matter and 3.2% total sulphur.
Select discovered the coal outcrop on PL 7051/2011 while undertaking ground traversing activities in preparation for a maiden drilling campaign on the recently acquired and highly prospective land holding.
Continuation of the outcropping coal horizon was intersected 39 metres below surface while a second previously undiscovered coal occurrence was intersected 89 metres below surface.
The outcrop is interpreted to lie in the same stratigraphic position as the adjacent Ngaka mine and Katewaka/Mchuchuma coal occurrences within the same basin, which is the largest Karoo Supergroup basin in southwest Tanzania.
2013 exploration plan
Select Exploration will recommence drilling in 2013, targeting along strike potential thickening of the two identified coal seams in addition to exploratory drilling for additional coal measures of greater width.
The company will also conduct washability test work to determine the ability to further upgrade the coal.
Transition to coal explorer
Select Exploration, formerly Select Vaccines, launched itself into Africa's coal and uranium sectors earlier this year with the acquisition of four highly prospective and potentially large scale coal and uranium projects in Tanzania.
The 38 exploration licences cover around 3,700 square kilometres.
The projects, which are drill ready, contain units of Karoo Sedimentary Sequence which hosts major deposits within Africa including significant coal/uranium deposits within Tanzania, and coking coal deposits in neighbouring Mozambique.
The first target, Ruhuhu, is less than 2 kilometres along strike from known coal occurrences.
Ruhuhu comprises seven licences, four of which are granted, over 494 square kilometres.
The project's geology is interpreted to contain the same sedimentary sequence that hosts nearby Intra Energy's (ASX: IEC) Mbuyura Coal Project.
Ruhuhu is located about 1 kilometre along strike from Intra Energy's Ngaka-Mbalawala Coal Project, and 6 kilometres along strike of the Mbuyura Coal Project, with both projects hosting a total resource of 423 million tonnes.
