1.2.3.1.12 Pentland Coal Project

Mineral development licence (MDL) 356, granted in September 2006, is currently held by Glencore Coal Queensland Pty Ltd (Glencore) (Section 1.2.2). This MDL covers about 50 km2 and sits immediately to the east of NEC’s West Pentland lease. In 2012 the maiden measured resource of 65 Mt, indicated resource of 15 Mt and inferred resource of 20 Mt was announced for Pentland (GA and BREE, 2013), presumably hosted in the Late Permian Betts Creek beds. However, there is scant information publically available to provide more detail about this coal resource. The tenement was formerly part of Xstrata Coal Pty Limited’s (Xstrata’s) asset portfolio, prior to the merger between Xstrata and Glencore in 2013. Given recent uncertainty about the future of a number of former Xstrata projects, the timing for development of the coal resources at the Pentland site is unknown.