Coal Quality
COAL QUALITY, PROCESSING, AND TESTING
The MBGS report describes the Donkin Coal Resource Block as containing on average 4.5%
sulphur and 12% ash and is classified as high volatile A bituminous, high sulphur, medium ash
coal based on the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) coal classification system.
The report states that after processing at the Victoria Junction Coal Preparation Plant during the
pilot scale study, the Donkin bulk sample coal achieved 70% to 75% recovery of metallurgical
product with ash 3%, and total sulphur (TS) content of 2.1%. The thermal product yield was 5%
to 10% with ash and TS of 7% and 4% respectively. Coarse rejects contained the bulk of the
pyritic sulphur (TS 16%) with little coal evident in the reject material which had an ash content of
65%. The flotation tailings were also high in ash, at 75% to 80%, with a sulphur content of 2% to
2.5%.
Norwest agrees with the findings of the MBGS report on this topic and is of the opinion that the
spacing of available coal quality data for the seams used in the geological model is adequate for
characterization of the in-place quality parameters. Additional information can be found in the
MBGS report.