Oracle Coalfields, the developer of the 1.4 billion tonne Block VI coal deposit in southern Pakistan, has appointed Wardell Armstrong International to carry out the Environmental/Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) on the project.

The ESIA will form part of the Bankable Feasibility Study on the project.

Block VI is on the Thar coalfield in the eastern Sindh province and hosts a JORC-compliant resource of 1.4 billion tonnes of which 371 million tonnes are in the proven category.

Oracle Coalfields’ chairman Shahrukh Khan says, “The monies recently raised means that the Bankable Feasibility Study is proceeding. The initial phase of the ESIA, the scoping study, will commence this month.

“This is another step in achieving our aim of bringing into production the very large resource within the Thar coalfield.”

Oracle Coalfields is a London-based resource exploration and development company with an 80% owned subsidiary, Sindh Carbon Energy Limited, operating in Pakistan.

Oracle’s flagship project is the Block VI coal project and it also owns the Indus East coal project in Pakistan where a pre-feasibility study has confirmed a JORC-compliant inferred resource of 365 million tonnes.

www.oraclecoalfields.com