Coal within Dartbrook is located on the western side of the Muswellbrook Anticline. Strata of the Permian Wittingham Coal Measures outcrop in the area and dip gently generally to the west. The location of the igneous intrusions and faults in the Dartbrook deposit is well-known. They have been considered for both resource estimation and mining operations. Based on observations from previous underground operations, the igneous intrusions and faults will have no material impact on the Dartbrook coal product qualities.

Within the Dartbrook Open Cut Pre-Feasibility Study mine schedule there are 13 coal seams amenable to open cut mining.

AQC’s vision is to develop Dartbrook as a low impact, open cut, mining operation.

The Dartbrook tenements contain a total Coal Resource of approximately 2,534 Million tonnes (588 Mt Measured, 850 Mt Indicated, 1,097 Mt Inferred). Within this Coal Resource, open cut mining is amenable in areas for a total of 1,803 Mt at a depth shallower than 450m.

The OC PFS mine plan mines 226 Mt ROM coal with 190 Mt, or 84%, classified as a ROM Coal Reserve. Based on the modelled processing yield applied by the Competent Person and rounding, this equates to a Marketable Reserve of 140 Mt. This reflects the capacity of the proposed 10 Mtpa pit operating for 25 years, at a strip ratio of 4.0 to 1. Beyond the OC PFS mining pit, the Coal Reserve extends to the south, west and north of the OC PFS mining pit.

Coal Handling & Preparation Plant
Dartbrook began operating exclusively with an unwashed (bypass) coal product that was crushed and sold directly to market. The existing Coal Handling & Preparation Plant (CHPP) was established several years later with a combination of washed and bypassed product produced. AQC’s CHPP technical consultant, Ausenco, has assessed the requirements to modify the existing CHPP to process approximately 30% as bypass coal whilst the remainder is washed at a nominal feed rate of 1,000 t/h as received across the wide number of coal types available to the Dartbrook operation.

The Dartbrook CHPP will produce two thermal export coal products with energy specifications of 6100 kCal/kg (GAR) and 5500 kCal/kg (GAR) for the high energy “Dartbrook Premium” and standard energy “Dartbrook Standard” products, respectively. Two-thirds of product coal produced will be Dartbrook Premium coal. The CHPP is a single product plant and will produce each of these pr ........