Blackham up on coal resource boost

Shares in Leederville-based Blackham Resources Ltd have jumped 46 per cent after a resource boost in the Scaddan coal-to-liquids joint venture with Wesfarmers Premier Coal Ltd that is projected to have mine life of over 45 years.

Blackham today reported a resource boost from 700 million tonnes to 765mt of lignite after acquiring additional tenements surrounding Scaddan, some 60 kilometres north of Esperance.

Blackham said it has offered Wesfarmers the opportunity to extend its joint venture interest in the newly acquired tenements.

Currently, Blackham is evaluating the development of Scaddan and its wholly-owned Zanthus lignite project, assessing the potential for an initial drying, gasification and synthetic fuel plant of 15,000 barrels per day of mostly diesel production.

The plant is then expected to be ramped up to 30,000 barrels per day to take advantage of economies of scale, Blackham said.

Based on a 30,000 barrels per day operation, the current resource of 929mt of lignite or 464 million barrels of oil products could provide feedstock for over 45 years.

Results of the study will be released shortly.

Shares in Blackham jumped from 12 cents to an intraday high of 17.5 cents before closing at at 16.5c.