23rd May 2007 07:00
Churchill Mining plc23 May 2007 23 May 2007 CHURCHILL MINING PLC ("Churchill" or "the Company") Further coal intercepts at the East Kutai project in Kalimantan, Indonesia Highlights: • 9 further holes drilled - 7 intersected coal. • Best intercepts include coal seams of 14.2m, 8.25m and 5.2m thickness • Final purchase terms agreed Churchill Mining Plc (AIM: CHL) announces that the Company's due diligence drillprogramme at the East Kutai coal project in Kalimantan, Indonesia, has continuedto intersect occurrences of thermal coal in multiple seams. Drilling Results The Company has drilled a further nine holes, seven of which intersected coalseams (greater than or equal to 0.5 metres in thickness). Best interceptsincluded 14.2 metres in drill hole RP-013 from 14.70m to 28.90m; RP-011 whichintersected 8.25m of coal between 18.75m and 27.00m; and RP-012B which hit 5.20mfrom 24.0m to 29.2m. Churchill has now drilled 19 holes at East Kutai, 15 ofwhich have intercepted coal seams ranging from 0.5m to 19.25m in thickness. A full summary of the latest results is set out below: Hole Details Coal Hole Depth From To Thickness RP-011 70.00m 18.75 27.00 8.25 27.75 28.75 1.00 29.25 31.00 1.75RP-012 60.50m 6.90 12.00 5.10RP-012B 32.00m 24.00 29.20 5.20RP-013 70.00m 14.70 28.90 14.20RP-014 150.00m 32.10 32.80 0.70 100.70 104.27 3.57 138.25 139.60 1.35RP-015 102.10m 27.60 28.30 0.70 95.60 99.10 3.50RP-016 70.00m 7.87 12.47 4.60 52.43 53.68 1.25RP-017 146.50m Thin laminationsRP-018 100.00m 5.77 6.27 0.50 25.35 26.32 0.97 89.40 91.70 2.30RP-019 70.00m Thin laminations Note: RP-012 was re-drilled as RP-012B due to poor core recovery Drill core samples taken from the project were subsequently sent for analysis atIntertek Caleb Brett's laboratory in Samarinda, East Kalimantan and analysesreceived subsequent to the Company's previous RNS announcement on April 5 haveconfirmed the preliminary coal quality data reported at that time. Finalanalyses of the last round of sampling (23 seam samples and composites) havereturned the following coal quality ranges with calorific values (air driedbasis) ranging from 4,719-5,822 kcal/kg (average 5,370 kcal/kg), a total sulphurrange of 0.09-0.27% (average 0.13%), an ash range of 2.08-12.90% (average 4.28%)and an inherent moisture content of between 11.66-24.44% (average 16.93%). Purchase Terms The drilling programme at East Kutai is being conducted as part of verificationwork being undertaken by Churchill designed to test the quality and continuityof coal outcrop targets identified in field work by the Company's consultinggroups PT Rimineco Geological and Mining Services and GMT Indonesia. As a resultof the positive results from the verification programme, Churchill has enteredinto a formal sales agreement with the owners of the East Kutai project, PTTechno Coal Utama Prima, to buy 75% of the project. Churchill has made aninitial payment of US$250,000. Churchill will pay a maximum of an additionalUS$750,000 for the project, which includes any tenement expansion to the projectcurrently being considered by the Company. This deal is expected to be finalisedon or before 90 days from the date of this announcement. The East Kutai Project The East Kutai project area covers approximately 399 square kilometres, made upof two blocks, and is situated 110 kilometres northwest of the main populationcentre of Sangatta in the Regency of East Kutai. The Regency of East Kutai'scoal prospectivity has been re-evaluated by several companies in recent times.The catalyst for the renewed interest is a discovery called Pakar, made by aprivate Indonesian group, which is located approximately 55 kilometressouth-west of Churchill's ground. The Pakar project, as of December 2006, had aJORC compliant resource of 3.3 billion tonnes of thermal coal. Churchill currently has three drill rigs available at East Kutai and plans tocontinue drilling shortly after further reconnaissance mapping in areas south ofthe discovery zone is completed. The Company has also begun an extensive groundresistivity program at its Sendawar project (also in Kalimantan) to refinetargets for drilling later this year. The Company maintains an active sourcing programme for coal exploration andmining opportunities in both Indonesia and elsewhere and will continue toexamine more projects throughout 2007. ENDS Enquiries: Churchill Mining Plc Blue Oar Securities Plc Parkgreen CommunicationsPaul Mazak/James Hamilton Olly Cairns Justine Howarth/Brendan McNamara+61 (0) 8 9388 0377 +44 (0) 20 7448 4400 +44 (0) 20 7851 7480 [email protected] [email protected] In accordance with the AIM Guidelines for Mining Companies, Mr Brett Gunter, ofPT GMT Services, is the qualified person that has reviewed the technicalinformation contained in this release. Notes to editors Churchill Mining Plc listed on AIM in April 2005. Its principle operations arethe South Woodie Woodie manganese project in Australia and the Sendawar and EastKutai coal projects in Indonesia. South Woodie Woodie The South Woodie Woodie project covers approximately 490 square kilometres inthe East Pilbara region of Western Australia. Owned via Churchill Mining'swholly-owned subsidiary, Planet Mining Pty Ltd, the project sits approximately400km southeast of Port Hedland in the highly prospective Pilbara manganeseprovince. Churchill owns the project 100%. To date much of the project areahas never been explored due to the presence of surface cover. Churchill hasconducted a versatile time-domain electromagnetic (VTEM) geophysics survey todefine targets for drilling. VTEM is a leading heli-borne technology that candetect conductive mineralization and related structures to depths of 400m belowsurface. Sendawar The Sendawar project in Kalimantan, Indonesia, covers more than 1,000 squarekilometres of prospective ground and lies in close proximity to two operatingopen-cut mines: Thai miner Banpu's newly commissioned Trubaindo operation, whichwill shortly be producing at a rate of approximately six million tonnes perannum (tpa); and the privately-owned Gunung Bayan mine which has been operatingsince 1998 and produces approximately 3.4 million tpa. Coal from these mines istransported by barge via the Mahakam River to the port of Samarinda. TheSendawar project is located approximately 50km from the Mahakam River. East Kutai Churchill announced on 15 February 2007 that it had signed an ExclusivityAgreement with PT Techno Coal Utama to enable it to conduct due diligence workon the thermal coal project, the preliminary drilling results from which areannounced above. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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