Atrum Coal Limited (ASX: ATU), based in Fitzroy, Australia, is a metals and mining sector company primarily exploring and developing anthracite coal deposits in Canada and also holds interests in a couple of projects across the region.
On April 5th, 2019, the company released an update for its flagship Elan South area of its 100%-owned Elan Hard Coking Coal Project in southwest Alberta, Canada. As per the information, the final coal, carbonization and coke property testing, conducted by CoalTech (USA), DMT (Germany) and INCAR (Spain), on composite samples representative of Seam 1 and 2 blends from the 2018 Large Diameter Coring program has further confirmed Tier 1 Hard Coking Coal (HCC) quality.
Going forward, an extensive drilling, sampling and coal quality testing have been planned under the recently announced exploration program for 2019. Following these works, the coal quality, washability and clean coal coking properties will be more evident and confirmed across a more expansive area in Elan South. Thereafter, the product specifications for Elan South will be established and thus support the development of optimal coal preparation plant design.
Prior to this, on April 2nd, 2019, Atrum Coal announced the initial JORC Resource estimate of 174Mt at inferred classification for its Panorama North Project located in north-west British Columbia. Atrum has a joint exploration agreement with the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC), over the project which covers 12 coal licences across an area of approximately 74 km2. The company appointed Palaris Australia Pty to assist in interpreting and modelling the geology of the site.
This follows successful drilling and field programs over the past three years, which were fully funded by the project partner JOGMEC (CAD 5 million) and resulted in the identification of maiden resource of high-grade anthracite. Further coal quality results from the petrography and maceral analysis are expected to be out in the upcoming weeks.
Currently, Atrum and JOGMEC (with 35% equitable interest) are now preparing to commence an early-stage development pathway study (Scoping study) on Panorama North during 2019 for evaluating the prospective development options, infrastructure solutions, capital expenditure requirements and expected mining economics.
Moreover, for the Elan Hard Coking Coal Project, the company has prepared an expanded and accelerated project advancement strategy for 2019 following Atrum’s recently completed AUD 20 million institutional equity raising in March 2019. The overview of the program was recently released to the market and encompassed a 20,000-metre drill campaign to expand the existing resource and upgrade its classification.
For the financial year ended December 31st, 2018, Atrum Coal recorded a loss after income tax of $ 4.66 million. However, its net assets increased by $ 8.49 million during the financial year from $ 7.56 million to $ 16.05 million, primarily due to an increase in cash following the placement and entitlement issue and acquisition of Elan Coal Project, minus the Lenark loan to $ 141,371 from a balance of $ 1.62 million at December 31st, 2017. At the end of the year, the net cash reserves stood at $ 3.10 million.
Atrum has a current market valuation of around $ 131.05 million with ~ 444.25 million outstanding shares. On April 5th, 2019, the ATU stock price closed the day’s trading at $ 0.360, soaring high by 22.03%.
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