EPC 1896 is located in the Surat Basin in Queensland Australia and covers an area of approximately 24 km2 without any significant environmental constraints. The tenement was granted on 27 June 2014 for a 5 year period and is managed by Cape Coal under an agreement executed with Australian Pacific Coal (ASX: AQC) who holds the remaining 50% interest.
The project is located in the Central Surat Basin proximate to Cockatoo Coal’s Bushranger MDL and Stanmore Coal’s “The Range” MLA. The target for EPC 1896 is thermal coal in the middle to upper Jurassic Walloon Coal Measures. Interpretation of historic exploration reports, proximate drill data and open file geophysics suggest that seams from the Juandah (upper coal horizon) and Taroom (lower coal horizon) Coal Measures may be present in the tenement area.
Regionally the Walloon Coal Measures can be washed to produce a high yielding, high volatile, low ash thermal product with exceptional combustion and environmental performance. Surat Basin coals contain on average only 30% of the concentrations of arsenic, boron, mercury and selenium found in other world coals and have generally up to 15 % lower CO2 emissions than most other coals (Eco Friendly Coal for China – Value for the Environment and Value for the Power Generator -Juniper L 2013).
Table 1: Typical Washed Quality of Taroom and Juandah Coal Measures
| Key Quality |
Typical value |
| Energy (kcal/kg, adb) |
6000 - 6800 |
| Ash (%) |
9 -12 |
| Volatile matter (%) |
39 – 45 |
| Fixed Carbon (%) |
38 - 42 |
| Sulfur (%) |
0.3 to 0.6 |
| HGI |
35 - 40 |
| Nitrogen (%) |
1 – 1.5 |
| C02 (kg/MWh S/0) |
920 - 940 |
