Sable Mining Africa has reported additional positive results of samples extracted from its vast Lubu coal concessions which further confirmed presence of coking coal fractions across multiple seams.
Previous results also pointed to high-grade coking coal.
The latest batch of results which point to the area containing large metallurgical and thermal coal deposit is expected to add further impetus to the firms commitment in the concession.
The mining concern said out of 64 boreholes under Phase One drilling programme, 30 boreholes have been completed to date.
“A total of 3 820m has been drilled and 226 samples weighing 2,88 tonnes have been submitted to the ALS Laboratory Group in Witbank, South Africa, for testing. Initial results provide early confirmation of the open cast potential contained within the project”, the firm reported.
Sable gained exposure to the country’s coal sector through the acquisition of significant interests in the Lubu and the Lubimbi coal projects.
According to the company update, the initial modelling of the main six seams falling within these initial data boundaries suggest in-situ tonnages approaching 550 million tonnes of coal.
“The potential tonnage contained within the three opencast blocks shown, are expected by the company’s geologists to exceed one billion tonnes which is reflected in historical estimates” said the London-quoted miner.
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There has been significant interest in Zimbabwe’s coal deposits from international investors, but have remained largely unexplored as these require significant capitalisation.
Zimbabwe has abundant coal deposits and experts have indicated there are two major basins where coal can be extracted.
These are the Zambezi basin, in the north, which runs over into neighbouring Zambia and Mozambique and the Sabi-Limpopo basin in the south, which runs over into the Limpopo province of South Africa.
These have an estimated tonnage of in-situ coal of 26 500 million tonnes, of which 10 500 million tonnes is extractable.
The Lubu coalfields were originally explored by Messina Transvaal Development Services Ltd in the 1980s, which estimated that the area had an inferred resource of 334 million tonnes of low-sulphur coal.
The resource is principally located in the 14m to 18m thick main seam, which is also believed to contain coking coal in its lower section.
