Greenvale Energy has released an updated mineral resource estimate for its Alpha torbanite project, boosting the inferred resource by 51 per cent.

The completion of the updated MRE ticks another major box towards the completion of the pre-feasibility study, according to Greenvale chief executive officer Mark Turner.

“The significant improvement in the scale of the inferred resource is extremely positive and is expected to improve further when combined with the results from the final liquefaction test program,” he said.

The Alpha torbanite project is located about 50km south of the central Queensland town of Alpha. 

Greenvale believes the project has the potential to be the country’s sole domestic supplier of bitumen.

The updated mineral resource estimate sees a 9.4Mt increase in the total dry tonnes of the deposit at 28Mt of combined cannelite and torbanite. (Up from 18.6Mt in the maiden estimate last year).

Greenvale Energy said this represented a significant 51 per cent increase in the total size of the inferred resource and reinforced the scale and potential of the Alpha deposit.

The synthetic oil equivalency of the deposit has also seen a noticeable improvement, adding 6.4 million barrels for a total of 27.7 million barrels of synthetic oil equivalent.