The project is located in the Canterbury Coalfield, Malvern Hills, New Zealand.

The defined resource is contained within the late Cretaceous to Early Paleocene aged Broken River Formation., formed during the Tertiary transgressive-regressive cycle between the Rangitata and Kaikoura Orogenys.

Overlying the coal measures is the Conway Formation, dominated by micaceous and quartz rich fine sandstones and mudstones indicative of littoral to shallow marine settings.

Pleistocene aged glacial outwash gravels and tills mask underlying stratigraphy over much of the area. Younger river gravels also dominate larger river valleys within the area.

Glacial derived windblown loess deposits mantle much of the area.

Igneous intrusions are present in the Malvern Hills area. Some contact metamorphism of coal measures has been observed with localized rank increases observed in some Canterbury coal samples, however none have been noted in the current resource area.

Generally the project area is structurally simple. Coal seams are not greatly affected by cross cutting faults. Seam dips range between 20° in the south to 50° the north of the current open pit area. In some locations it has been observed that localised slumping has caused overturning of the coal seams.

Depth of cover (DOC) varies from 0m at outcrop to over 200m at the Southeastern boundary of the model. The strike length of the deposit is in excess of 4km.

It is assumed that any future mining operation would have a minimum vertical daughter seam thickness of 0.3 m as a minimum mining horizon cut-off. The current opencast operation mines some seam splits that are thinner than this.

The Canterbury Coal mine utilises truck and shovel for waste and coal movement. The operations are supported by additional equipment including dozers, graders, and water carts.

Geotechnical studies have been completed for Canterbury existing operations and will be an ongoing requirement for new pits prior to development.

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