benchmark - aussies in polish coal

I won't name the company as I don't want to get moderated for "cross promotion", but many here know who they are. I don't hold shares in them, ... bummer. For those that don't know them, this Company was granted coal leases in the Lublin Coal Basin in Poland in August 2012. These leases are situated next to the operating Bogdanka coal mine. Remember these are just coal leases, there is no infrastructure in place, just a lot of coal and historical drill hole data.

I figure that they are an excellent benchmark for BMB to be measured against as far as TIMELINES go. Two very different resources and capital bases for each company, but as far as Company achievements go, they are an important company to watch.

Given the amount of development at Nowa Ruda and the fact that NR is a MUCH smaller resource, one might expect that we should achieve things more quickly, and if we aren't, the question will need to be asked why we aren't.

What this other company has achieved in around 20 months is outlined below.

August 2012 - Awarded the leases.
November 2012 - Announced an Exploration Target
February 2013 - Announced a JORC resource estimate (no drilling required that beat the Exploration Target).
July 2013 - Announced the Scoping Study had begun.
June Qtr 2013 - Drilling begins for Scoping Study.
July 2013 - Scoping Study begins
October 2013 - Drilling Update (2 holes drilled)
October 2013 - Announced metallurgy results.
February 2014 - Environmental Impact/Permitting process commences.
March 2014 - Initial Washability Results
April 2014 - Rail and Port Access
April 2014 - Geotechnical Review Completed
April 2014 - Positive Scoping Study

So to summarise, once the coal leases were secured (August 2012), IT THEN TOOK;

3 months to announce an Exploration Target.
6 months to announce a JORC (no drilling required).
8 months to start drilling for the Scoping Study.
6 months after drilling began two holes were completed (14 months after being awarded the project.
11 months to begin the Scoping Study
14 months to get metallurgy results from those two holes.
18 months to begin the Environmental Impact and Permitting process.
19 months to announce initial washability results.
20 months to complete the Scoping Study (which took 9 months to complete), announce Rail and Port Access and complete the Geotechnical Review.

We began drilling at Nowa Ruda November 2013.

There was an initial speculative spike in their SP once the leases were awarded (late 2012) but there have been several announcements that really put a rocket under their SP since February 2014. They were;

1. Washability results that displayed an exceptionally high yields and calorific values of 7,526-7,830 kcal/kg.
2. Exceptional rail and port access.
3. Completion of a positive "Geotechnical Review"
4. Positive Scoping Study.
All announcements that indicate that the mine should be a goer, from a financial, geotechnical, and logistical point of view. IMO we will need these sorts of announcements to get our SP going.

It's good to see that with the right achievements, investors on the ASX are prepared to embrace both a junior resource company operating in Poland, and also a coal company given all the gloom around the bulk commodities at the moment.

Here's what can happen when the necessary boxes start getting ticked;