Peabody Energy is looking to carry out a pilot coal seam gas (CSG) exploration and extraction program on the Wards Well ground it recently acquired alongside its Centurion mine.

It proposes a network of 13 vertical and 10 lateral wells, extending from the ground surface down to the Goonyella Middle coal seam.

The coal miner is seeking an Environmental Authority amendment for the work, which would help it assess how best to deal with CSG on the mining lease while meeting emission reduction targets.

Stanmore Resources sold the southern portion of its Wards Well tenements in the Bowen Basin to Peabody this year, receiving more than $200 million in addition to a future royalty stream.

Related: Stanmore and Peabody strike $500m-plus Wards Well deal

The area is now part of the complex created with Peabody’s resurrection of its North Goonyella underground mine as Centurion mine.

In seeking approval to establish the CSG wells, Peabody said there had been no historical testing on the mining lease (ML1790) to measure CSG drainage performance.

The Centurion North well project was required to understand more about the characteristics of the Goonyella Middle coal seam there and the contained gas, it stated.

This was required to develop management plans for the safe, environmentally conscious and economic extraction of CSG and coal from the ML1790.

‘The drilling and sampling of the resource, and data gathering from the exploration works enables resource and groundwater models to be built and verified,’ its application states.

‘From this the technical and economic analysis can be based on more reliable information to assess the feasibility of extracting the resource.’

The pilot is expected to be a two-year project, with the well layout finalised by end of 2025.

It is expected to involve a total disturbance area of 12ha, comprised of 11.80ha associated with drill pads and 0.2ha associated with access tracks.

The application for EA amendment is open for public comment until December 6. (Details HERE)

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