On the 11th August 2008 Miranda announced that its 70%
subsidiary, Keldoron Properties (Pty) Limited had been
awarded four coal prospecting permits covering five farms
in the Amajuba district (Newcastle/Dannhauser).
The board today announces that the first SAMREC compliant
Competent Persons Report “CPR” on three of the farms was
completed.*(PC Meyer (Pr.Sci.Nat 400025/03) The
purpose of the CPR is to provide an initial resource estimate
of the coal within the prospecting area covering the farms
Schuwer Rand No: 8596, Lisbellaw 12066, Walmsly 4266, Jubilee
9642 and Milnerdale 9094.
Historical Exploration
Previous exploration was done by Anglo American, Consolidated
Goldfields, Natal Navigation Collieries and Trans Natal
Coal between 1936 and 1996. The 2008 drilling programme
completed by Miranda between August and October is intended
to upgrade the resource status, confirm some of the historical
data and improve the quality of the data base. Full wash
analysis, Roga and crucible swell numbers (“CSN”) for coking
coal indications will be done on all of the seams. An updated
CPR will be produced once all the data is available from
the current drilling programme.
Coal qualities
Drilling has intersected both the Top and Bottom seams
(typical of the Klipriver coal field) both which have open
pit and underground potential. The coal rank ranges from
bituminous to anthracitic with the bulk at the farm Walmsley
being anthracitic. Calorific values are high and a high
quality washed product might be achieved.
Reserve and Resource Statements.
The Project Area involves the separate Amajuba and Milnedale
Blocks. They were modeled separately as they are a distance
apart and their coal quality differs.
Resource Statement
AMAJUBA BLOCK
Lisbellaw, Walmsley & Schurver Rand
Top Seam |
|
Area
m2 |
|
Volume m2 |
|
Ave thickness |
|
RD |
|
Gross In Situ Tons |
|
Geological Loss |
|
Total in Situ tons |
| Block OC1 |
|
1,066,699 |
|
3,520,106 |
|
3.30 |
|
1.50 |
|
5,280,160 |
|
15% |
|
4,488,136 |
| Block OC2 |
|
3,732,506 |
|
6,494,560 |
|
1.74 |
|
1.50 |
|
9,741,841 |
|
15% |
|
8,280,565 |
| Block UG1 |
|
2,620,110 |
|
5,318,822 |
|
2.03 |
|
1.50 |
|
7,978,234 |
|
15% |
|
6,871,499 |
| Block UG2 |
|
1,324,922 |
|
2,928,078 |
|
2.21 |
|
1.50 |
|
4,392,117 |
|
15% |
|
3,733,300 |
| Block UG3 |
|
434,755 |
|
856,466 |
|
1.97 |
|
1.50 |
|
1,284,700 |
|
15% |
|
1,091,995 |
| Block UG 4 |
|
715,201 |
|
1,108,562 |
|
1.55 |
|
1.50 |
|
1,662,843 |
|
15% |
|
1,413,417 |
| Total |
|
9,894,193 |
|
20,226,597 |
|
|
|
|
|
30,339,896 |
|
|
|
25,788,912 |
| Bottom
Seam |
|
Area
m2 |
|
Volume m2 |
|
Ave thickness |
|
RD |
|
Gross In Situ Tons |
|
Geo Loss |
|
Total in Situ tons |
| Block OC1 |
|
834,369 |
|
567,371 |
|
0.68 |
|
1.5 |
|
851,057 |
|
15% |
|
723 398 |
| Block OC2 |
|
2,415,920 |
|
1,981,055 |
|
0,82 |
|
1.5 |
|
2,971,583 |
|
15% |
|
2,525,845 |
| Total |
|
3,250,290 |
|
2,548,426 |
|
|
|
|
|
3,822,639 |
|
|
|
3,249,244 |
Summary – Amajuba Block
| Total
Open pit |
|
16,017,944 |
 |
|
|
| Total
Underground |
|
13,020,211 |
|
|
|
| Total
resource |
|
29,038,155 |
There is sufficient data for the farm Walmsley open pit
block (block 2) to qualify as a “Measured Resource”. The
remainder of the resource is classified as “Inferred Resources”
under the current SAMREC classification for multi seam
deposits. These deposits have the potential to become “Measured
resources” once the results of the current drilling programme
are known and the remodeling is completed with the 2008
data.
Mining Tonnages and qualities
The total in situ resource for
the open pit blocks of the Amajuba area is 16.0 mt and
for the underground blocks is 13.0 mt measuring a total
resource of 29.0 mt. The Bottom Seam was not regarded as
having potential for underground mining and is not included
in the underground resources but was included in the open
pit resources.
There is no open pit potential for Milnedale. The underground
resource for the Top Seam is 5.08 mt and for the Bottom
Seam 4.09 mt rendering a total in situ resource
of 9.2 mt.
The total in situ resource for the project is 38.2 mt.
The addition of the above resource to the groups 120 million
tonnes already confirmed in the CPR’s published in May
2008 means the group now has approximately 160 million
tonnes of coal resources in the KwaZulu-Natal province
and on which CPR’s have been prepared.
Wayne Ison, Financial Director at Miranda commented, "This Amajuba
CPR has yielded a sizable resource for us. We are
especially pleased with the high grade of bituminous and
anthracite that has been identified. Today's results demonstrates
a potentially economically viable resource and we now
intend to proceed with the application of a mining
licence on Amajuba"
*PC Meyer is a registered natural scientist (Pr. Sci. Nat 400025/03) and
a SAMREC accredited geologist and adheres to the South African Minerals and
Petroleum Resources Development Act of 2002 (ACT No. 28 of 2002), the SAMREC
code and the South African Guide to the Systematic Evaluation of Coal Resources
and Coal Reserves (SANS 10320:2004).
ENDS
ISSUED BY: FDBeachhead
Louise Brugman;
011 214 2415/ 083 504 1186/ louise.brugman@fd.com
Senzi Dlamini
011 214 2420 / 073 494 0030 / senzi.dlamini@fd.com
ON BEHALF OF: Miranda Minerals
CEO: Wayne Ison
012 665 4200 |
