General Mining Corporation clinches coal exploration license in Mongolia
General Mining Corporation (ASX: GMM) has clinched a deal to acquire a 100% interest in 19.6 km2 exploration licence in Mongolia for the purpose of coal exploration.
Exploration licence 15206X is adjacent to the the current exploration properties at the Uvs project owned by General Mining's 100% owned local subsidiary Golden Cross.
Licence 15206X is located 200 metres west of the Khuden Coal Deposit, as well as the Company’s licences 14404X (located ~1 km south of the Khuden Deposit) and 13848X cover parts of an inter-mountain basin detached from the major Uvs Basin.
The prospectivity of General Mining's Uvs licences for coal exploration can be gleaned via the adjacent Khuden Coal Deposit, where Russian category A to C2 coal resources were estimated to a depth of 30 metres based on 1977 drilling and trenching and further extended by diamond drilling in 1984 and 1985.
The staged acquisition will see a 50% of the exploration licence interest acquired with the payment of a non refundable deposit of US$100,000 on execution of this agreement.
An additional non-refundable payment of US$300,000 is payable after the initial legal, technical, financial and regulatory due diligence period that expires 60 days after the vendor obtains all necessary approvals to permit exploratory drilling by Golden Cross.
Interestingly, this Lower Carboniferous sedimentary geology is known to host at least 7 black coal seams discovered at the Khuden Deposit in the centre of this inter-mountain basin.
The Khuden coal deposit was discovered in 1971 and amid some limited subsequent coal exploration in the 1970-80s which was focused on an 800 m by 1,300 m area - just outside licence 15206X and the company’s licences - where several coal seams outcrop amidst predominantly sandstone strata.
Most of the Lower Carboniferous geology outside this coal outcropping area remains largely unexplored, including the central part of this basin covered by shallow Quaternary alluvial sediments.
The prospectivity of the wider inter-mountain basin for discovering possible extensions of the gently dipping Khuden black coal seams was suggested by some original historical exploration reports and confirmed by two independent geological reviews commissioned by the Company in 2008.
This year the Company started some preliminary coal exploration in this area including the compilation of all available archival data on the historical coal exploration as well as a field reconnaissance.
A dedicated coal exploration program will be planned to be carried out in parallel with the potash and evaporite exploration in the Uvs Basin.
A sealed highway and a high-voltage power line cross the Company’s licence 14404X as well as licence 15206X within this inter-mountain basin.
The highway links the town of Ulaangom, the capital of the Mongolian Uvs Province, with the city of Kyzyl in Russia. The coal exploration area is ~200 km by road from city of Kyzyl that a major Russian industrial consortium plans to connect with the Trans-Siberian Railway by a new railroad in 2014.
The area is ~80 kilometres by road from Ulaangom and the Mongolian Government has published its plans to build a railroad connecting the north-west of the country, including Ulaangom, with China by 2015
Exploration licence 15206X is adjacent to the the current exploration properties at the Uvs project owned by General Mining's 100% owned local subsidiary Golden Cross.
Licence 15206X is located 200 metres west of the Khuden Coal Deposit, as well as the Company’s licences 14404X (located ~1 km south of the Khuden Deposit) and 13848X cover parts of an inter-mountain basin detached from the major Uvs Basin.
The prospectivity of General Mining's Uvs licences for coal exploration can be gleaned via the adjacent Khuden Coal Deposit, where Russian category A to C2 coal resources were estimated to a depth of 30 metres based on 1977 drilling and trenching and further extended by diamond drilling in 1984 and 1985.
The staged acquisition will see a 50% of the exploration licence interest acquired with the payment of a non refundable deposit of US$100,000 on execution of this agreement.
An additional non-refundable payment of US$300,000 is payable after the initial legal, technical, financial and regulatory due diligence period that expires 60 days after the vendor obtains all necessary approvals to permit exploratory drilling by Golden Cross.
Interestingly, this Lower Carboniferous sedimentary geology is known to host at least 7 black coal seams discovered at the Khuden Deposit in the centre of this inter-mountain basin.
The Khuden coal deposit was discovered in 1971 and amid some limited subsequent coal exploration in the 1970-80s which was focused on an 800 m by 1,300 m area - just outside licence 15206X and the company’s licences - where several coal seams outcrop amidst predominantly sandstone strata.
Most of the Lower Carboniferous geology outside this coal outcropping area remains largely unexplored, including the central part of this basin covered by shallow Quaternary alluvial sediments.
The prospectivity of the wider inter-mountain basin for discovering possible extensions of the gently dipping Khuden black coal seams was suggested by some original historical exploration reports and confirmed by two independent geological reviews commissioned by the Company in 2008.
This year the Company started some preliminary coal exploration in this area including the compilation of all available archival data on the historical coal exploration as well as a field reconnaissance.
A dedicated coal exploration program will be planned to be carried out in parallel with the potash and evaporite exploration in the Uvs Basin.
A sealed highway and a high-voltage power line cross the Company’s licence 14404X as well as licence 15206X within this inter-mountain basin.
The highway links the town of Ulaangom, the capital of the Mongolian Uvs Province, with the city of Kyzyl in Russia. The coal exploration area is ~200 km by road from city of Kyzyl that a major Russian industrial consortium plans to connect with the Trans-Siberian Railway by a new railroad in 2014.
The area is ~80 kilometres by road from Ulaangom and the Mongolian Government has published its plans to build a railroad connecting the north-west of the country, including Ulaangom, with China by 2015
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