hodges Resources hits coal seams during drilling at Botswana project Botswana-focused coal explorer Hodges Resources has intersected coal seams at open-pit mineable depths at its Moiyabana coal project in the center of the country, the company said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange July 6. Hodges said its first exploration drill hole had intersected 32 meters of coal in two seams measuring 16.5 and 16 meters in thickness, at a depth of 24 meters below the surface. A second drill hole located 1 km away also intersected 51 meters of coal in three seams, starting at a depth of 38 meters. Visual inspection of the drilled coal samples by company executives indicated the ?coal has significant bands of bright, hard, lustrous and bituminous characteristics, which are embedded with more dull coal and carbonaceous sedimentary sequences,? Hodges said. The area of the Moiyabana project was partially explored by Shell Coal in the 1970s and by another company, Jaguar Ventures in 2009-2010. ?The results of these initial inferred drilling holes are very encouraging and confirm that coal identified by the historical exploration within the area is present at shallow depths,? said Hodges Resources managing director Mark Major in the company statement. Further inferred drilling at the project is planned by Hodges Resources, and is expected to take up to three months. The company?s Moiyabana project in the south-central Kalahari sub-basin is located 90 km from Botswana?s Morupule colliery, and 50 km from existing rail infrastructure in east Botswana. Hodges Resources has a coal exploration target for the project of 1.4-1.6 billion mt, of which 660 million mt might be suitable for open-cut mining and sale to domestic markets ? though some might also be upgraded for export markets, the company said. Hodges?s share price closed 4.6% higher at A$0.45/ share on the ASX, July 6. ? Mike Cooper, Pert
HDG Price at posting:
43.0¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
