TVN Corporation's (ASX: TVN) latest drill hole at the Nuurst thermal coal project in Mongolia has intercepted a 189 metre thick coal sequence, potentially expanding an earlier exploration target.
Chris Marden, managing director of TVN and his team would likely have been gladdened by the continuing thick intersections and coal sequences, and potential for amassing a large resource at Nuurst.
A second rig has started drilling at the project, while a third rig will be mobilised in mid-October to accelerate the exploration program to complete the maiden JORC resource at the end of 2011.
The earlier targeted JORC resource at Nuurst was 50 - 100 million tonnes, but that was based on an 8 metre thick coal seam.
So this potential resource, due by the end of 2011, looks likely to build quickly, given the thickness of the sequences encountered by Marden and his team at Nuurst to date.
Which would be something of an achievement given the project was only acquired in June 2011.
The cumulative down hole coal seam thickness encountered in current drilling is 120.7 metres, with the main coal seam measuring 101.2 metres. This hole extends the significant coal sequence 1.1 kilometres west across the licence area.
Interpretation of the coal bearing zone across the most recent three holes suggests a sub-horizontal multiple seam sequence, dipping up to 5 to 10 degrees to the west.
Drilling is continuing to further clarify TVN's understanding of the coal sequence in this part of the coal basin.
Mongolia is a hot spot for coal explorers and developers, with total coal reserves estimated at more than 150 billion tonnes.
TVN's Nuurst project is a 3,451 hectare exploration licence, located 120 kilometres south of Ulaanbaatar, in an area with a number of operating coal mines.
Previous assays at Nuurst have confirmed the presence of high quality Mongolian thermal coal, and the coal seam development remains open to the north and west.
The project is just 6 kilometres from existing rail infrastructure, providing low cost access to the export market.