drilling program discovers 'high quality' coal

Drilling program discovers 'high quality' coal deposit
Jim Campbell | 20th August 2009

Print larger | smaller MINING company Cougar Energy has discovered a massive coal deposit near Wandoan that could generate more than 30 years worth of mining activity.

Chief executive officer and managing director Dr Len Walker said the “high quality” 341 million tonnes resource was discovered during a drilling program conducted during June and July this year.

“This resource is a significant size that will allow us to firstly plan and build a power station,” general manager of corporate finance Brad Glynne said.

“But then it allows us to investigate using the underground coal gas that we generate for a range of other products.

“The reason we feel confident about this coal is because it's in the Macalister seam.

“(Our CEO) Len Walker did a test burn at Chinchilla with Linc Energy out of the same seam and the qualities of the coal between the two sites are very similar.”

Mr Glynne said a “substantial workforce” would be put together to build the project.

“We're very much inclined to use Queensland-based companies so it's certainly a possibility workers will come from Toowoomba,” he said.

Dr Walker said Cougar Energy would follow a “clear development roadmap” to build long-life projects at Wandoan in a similar manner to their power station development at Kingaroy.

“Given that our Kingaroy Power Plant will supply 40,000 homes with electricity for 30 years, the upside potential for power generation at Wandoan is extremely exciting,” he said.

http://www.thechronicle.com.au:80/story/2009/08/20/drilling-program-discovers-high-quality-coal-depos/