1.2.3.1.10 Carmichael East Coal Project

The Carmichael East coal deposit is about 180 km west of Clermont (Figure 12), and sits within the Waratah Coal mining lease application (MLA) 70489 (Alpha North). This project area, which is immediately north of Waratah Coal’s Alpha North Coal Project, also coincides with EPC 1079 and 1080, and MDL 485 (at Laglan). Waratah Coal has indicated that the thermal coal resources at Carmichael East are of high quality, and that an initial exploration resource target of approximately 9 billion tonnes may exist (Waratah Coal, 2014b). However, there are no resource estimates by a Competent Person (as defined in the JORC Code) currently available in the public domain. The resources are likely to be extracted by underground longwall operations commencing at a rate of about 9 Mt/year. Any future development would likely rely on access to infrastructure (including rail load-out facilities) at the nearby North Alpha Coal Mine.

Detailed publically available information relating to the Carmichael East Coal Project is scarce (Waratah Coal, 2014b). Although there may be significant potential for future large scale underground operations, the coal resources at Carmichael East require a significant amount of further geological investigation and feasibility assessment before they can be developed into a commercially operating mine.