Drawing on data from three coal seam gas wells has seen Yari Minerals boost the inferred coal resource for its Rolleston South project by 26 per cent.

It now stands around 190Mt, up from 151Mt, after integrating open-source data from the Rougemont 3, 5 and 6 wells.

“The uplift reinforces the potential of this high-quality asset to create incremental shareholder value, ahead of the inaugural drilling campaign, which should progress once test-drill targets are finalised and all regulatory approvals secured,” Yari managing director Anthony Italiano said.

The Rolleston South coal project comprises 272sq km across two exploration permits about 15km south-west of Rolleston and 275km west of Gladstone in Central Queensland.

Related: Gas well findings bode well for Rolleston South

The Fair Work Commission has set September 14 as the date pay rises start to kick in for thousands of workers covered by ‘Same Job, Same Pay’ orders for BHP Mitsubishi Alliance’s Saraji, Peak Downs and Goonyella Riverside mines.

The date determination comes after the commission’s decision last month relating to workers employed by WorkPac, Chandler Macleod and BHP’s Operations Services. The orders are estimated to deliver pay rises of around $30,000 a year for over 2000 workers.

Mining and Energy Union Queensland president Mitch Hughes said workers would be relieved to finally have a date set for pay rises to commence.

Related: BHP loses key ‘Same Job Same Pay’ battle

BHP is seeking a judicial review of the Fair Work Commission’s July decision.

“While we acknowledge the decision handed down by the Fair Work Commission, we maintain that Operations Services is and always has been a mining services provider, and should therefore be exempt from becoming subject to Same Job, Same Pay Orders,” a spokesman said.  

“We are also concerned, should this decision be allowed to stand, that other service contractor businesses could be easily captured by these laws, and create uncertainty in how we manage our operations going forward.”  

A track-mounted reverse circulation (RC) drill rig has started work on a nine-hole program targeting extensions to the known mineralisation at Iltani Resources‘ Orient East project in the Herberton area.

Data generated from the drilling program will be used by independent mining consultant Mining One to complete the initial JORC mineral resource estimate for Orient East.

“As previously noted, the drilling will push back the Orient East mineral resource estimate (MRE) to late September/early October, however the drilling has the potential to materially increase the MRE, so we decided it was well worth completing,” Iltani managing director Donald Garner said.

3D modelling has confirmed a large high-intensity IP chargeability anomaly coincident with a previously delineated shallow bullseye magnetic anomaly at Pacgold‘s White Lion prospect.

The prospect is part of the Alice River gold project in Far North Queensland.

Pacgold has also delineated several promising resistivity anomalies coincident with the mapped location of the gold-mineralised Alice River Fault Zone (ARFZ) to the west of the White Lion prospect.

The company said a heritage clearance survey was completed last month and maiden RC drilling would begin in mid-September to test the IP targets.

After completing a campaign at the Blue Mountain gold project, a drilling rig is enroute to ECR Minerals‘ Lolworth project in North Queensland, with arrival expected next week.

The first drilling target will be the Uncle Terry prospect, where previous rock chip sampling and mapping confirmed galena, sulphides and high-grade gold assays, including grades of up to 75.6 g/t gold.

Drilling will test quartz blow outcrops and shear zones that remain open along strike.

Related:  ECR encouraged by visible gold shows at Blue Mountain