The board of Miranda is pleased to announce that the company has entered into a (“JV”) with Nava Resources (Pty) Ltd to explore the potential coal resource on the farm Lielifontein 136IT situated in the Ermelo district.
In terms of the JV agreement, Miranda will hold a 60% interest in the project through its wholly owned subsidiary Miranda Coal (Pty) Ltd and Nava Resources the remaining 40%.
The Ermelo coalfield extends over a distance of one hundred and fifty kilometers in a north-south direction and seventy five kilometers in an east-west direction, with Lielfontein covering 257 hectares.
The area generally consists of six coal seams namely the A,B,C, lower C,D and the E seams. The E seam is of economic significance and attains a maximum thickness of three meters and ranges in depth from surface down to 100 meters.
The farm has in the past been explored with over 30 boreholes being drilled by Shell, Anglo Coal and Gencore but was not developed as prevailing market conditions prevented an economically viable deposit. The current strong demand for coal has now made these deposits viable.
Analysis of the historic borehole data reveals that portion 4 of the farm is the most prospective. The average thickness of the seam is between 2.4m to 3m and occurs at an average depth of 25m making open cast extraction possible.
Management estimate the current in-situ resource at approximately 10.3 million tons, however further investigation and drilling is planned to upgrade the deposit to that of at least an indicated or measured resource in terms of the SAMREC code for multi seam deposits.
Wayne Ison, Financial Director at Miranda Minerals commented, "The Ermelo coal fields has substantial thermal coal deposits and we intend to investigate further opportunities in the area”. |
