Aust-based coalminer granted two permits

Queensland-based coal company Eastern Corporation has been granted two prospecting permits in Western Southland, covering more than 230 square kilometres.

The permits were issued last month by Crown Minerals, which claims on its website that one of the areas, a 24 square kilometre site at Orepuki, could yield as much as 8 million tonnes.

Eastern's business development manager Sam Aarons said on Monday she was aware of the 8 million tonne figure but it was just an estimate. It is possible it will pale into insignificance compared with what could be underneath the ground covered by the other permit, which takes in 208 square kilometres of land at Ohai.

That permit surrounds most of the existing Western Southland coal-rich sites, including Solid Energy's Ohai mines and Eastern's own Takitimu Coal Ltd mines.

Until there was some exploration of the area, the probable quantities were unknown, Ms Aarons said.

"We're not sure what we've got yet."

Although it is known the coal seams at the Takitimu mines extend into the permit area, the company would not be poring over the land with drilling rigs any time soon. First, the company had to identify the landowners and talk to them about getting access to do the exploratory work.

The permits were for two years, and getting resource consents and access agreements could take about 12 months, she said.

Crown Minerals' website says the Orepuki permit is for coal, lignite and oil shale at a site on the western Southland coast at the southern end of the Longwood Range.

"The small sub-bituminous coalfield at Orepuki has a previously estimated recoverable resource of about 8 million tonnes. A mine operated between 1883 and 1962, extracting a total of 85,000 tonnes," the website says.

By DAVID COSGRIFF
THURSDAY, 16 NOVEMBER 2006, Southland Times