7th Mar 2008 07:00
Churchill Mining plc07 March 2008 7 March 2008 AIM:CHL CHURCHILL MINING PLC ("Churchill" or "the Company") Churchill begins Scoping Study & appoints new geological consultants for East Kutai Coal Project Highlights • Appointment of SMG Consultants as new JORC geological consultants • Appointment of Trans Tek Engineering to complete East Kutai Coal Project scoping study • New Ambrian research note now available at www.churchillmining.com Churchill is please to announce that as part of its ongoing activities at theEast Kutai Coal Project (EKCP), the Company has appointed a number of newtechnical advisors as its moves forward in accessing and designing a developmentplan for the project. At the suggestion of the Company's previous independent geological consultantsSRK, Churchill has appointed SMG Consultants to complete the ongoing JORCresource statement for the EKCP. Churchill's Managing Director, Paul Mazak,extended his thanks to SRK for their assistance and valuable contribution toChurchill's project work in Indonesia. Staffed with over 30 mining professionals, the Australian-based SMG Consultantsis the only internationally recognised large independent geological consultinggroup to have worked in Indonesia since 1986 and operates a permanent office inJakarta. In addition, the SMG Consultants can call on assistance from itsworld-wide offices located in Australia, South Africa and North America. The SMCGroup has worked on most of the major coal mines in Indonesia in one capacity oranother, including; Arutmin, Kaltim Prima Coal, Adaro, Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku,Berau Coal and internationally includes amongst its clients BHP Billiton, RioTinto, Anglo Coal, White Mining, and Xstrata. The move to SMG Consultants willhelp overcome time zone and other difficulties of working with geologicalconsultants not based permanently in Indonesia. (A full description of SMG Consultants can be found at the Churchill website:www.churchillmining.com) The first stage of the JORC resource statement is still on schedule for releasein April 2008. The Company has also appointed the Australian-Canadian owned, Trans TekEngineering, to immediately commence a General Scoping Study on the EKCP. Thestudy is broadly based and will consider all aspects of possible miningfacilities, transportation infrastructure to port, ship-loading and portfacilities. Trans Tek Engineering is based in Indonesia with its directors having extensiveinternational experience in all aspects of coal mining development includingfeasibility studies as well as engineering design, procurement and construction,along with practical experience of the conditions facing mine developers inIndonesia. Their major clients include; BHP Vancouver Wharvis, SandwellEngineering, Total Indonesie, BP Indonesia, PT. Indominco, PT. Kaltim Prima Coal(KPC), PT. Arutmin, PT. KPI, and PT. Jorong Paul G. Mazak, Churchill's Managing Director, commented that: "the appointmentof skilled international consultants actually based permanently in Indonesiawill be of great benefit to Churchill in managing the EKCP development programmeon a daily basis." A new Ambrian research note regarding Churchill, its projects and the coalmarket is available at www.churchillmining.com ENDS Enquiries: Churchill Mining Plc Blue Oar Securities Parkgreen CommunicationsManaging Director - Paul G. Mazak Romil Patel Justine Howarth+61 (0)8 9388 0377 +44(0)20 7448 4000 +44 (0) 20 7851 7480 [email protected] Olly Cairns +61 (0)8 6430 1631 Notes to editors Churchill Mining Plc listed on AIM in April 2005. South Woodie Woodie Given the increased prospectivity of South Woodie Woodie, and Churchill'sincreasing focus on its Indonesian coal and coal bed methane projects, theCompany sold 80% of the project to Australian company Spitfire Resources Limited("Spitfire"). Spitfire, which listed on the ASX on the 12th December 2007, willhave the option to purchase the remaining equity in the project after spendingAUD$1.5 million on exploration. The South Woodie Woodie project covers approximately 490 square kilometres inthe East Pilbara region of Western Australia, and sits approximately 400kmsoutheast of Port Hedland in the highly prospective Pilbara manganese province.Churchill has recently completed a heliborne versatile time-domainelectromagnetic geophysics programme and interpretive work, and a follow updipole-dipole IP survey which identified multiple drill targets. Sendawar - CBM The Sendawar Coal CBM project in Kalimantan, Indonesia, covers more than 800square kilometres of prospective ground and lies in close proximity to twooperating open-cut coal mines. The project is located approximately 50km fromthe Mahakam River. During Churchill's coal exploration programme, data collected during geophysicaland resitivity work, along with data collected from previous oil and gasexploration in the area; indicated that the area was highly prospective for CoalBed Methane. Churchill (70% of the CBM project) along with its Indonesianpartner RMU (30% of the CBM project) applied for and were granted Indonesia'sfirst CBM JEA license in September 2007. The CBM project has the potential tohost Gas-in-Place of 5.6 TCF. Churchill is currently conducting further studieson the CBM project before starting detailed field work. East Kutai Coal Project 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 East Kutai thermal coal project. In May 2007 Churchill announced a salesagreement had been entered into to purchase a 75% interest in the Project, whichhas now been finalised. Exploration and resource drilling continue at theproject. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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