Allegiance Coal Limited announced the acquisition of the Short Creek Mine located 25km west of Birmingham Alabama and 27km southwest of the Black Warrior Mine. The Short Creek Mine is located within Black Warrior Coal Basin. The coal deposits are Carboniferous in age, being of the Pennsylvanian system. Overburden depths typically vary from 350 feet in the west to more than 1,000 feet in the east. Seams of economic significance including the Mary Lee, Blue Creek and Newcastle, typically range from 1.0 to 6.0 feet of coal thickness, with relatively little structural deformation. Regional structure is typically characterized by gently dipping strata to the southeast, from the Sequatchie Anticline in the northwest towards the axis of the Coalburg Syncline in the southeast. The Mary Lee and Blue Creek seams dip gently at 2 degrees or less. As is typical in this portion of the Warrior Basin, coal rank increases from northeast (High Volatile Bituminous) to the southwest (Low Volatile Bituminous). The Short Creek Mine is located regionally within Medium Volatile Bituminous deposits. The Short Creek target coal seams are the Pratt, Nickel Plate and American, and the Newcastle, Mary Lee and Blue Creek seams. The Pratt, Nickel Plate and American were surface mined by Drummond for several decades and a coal lease for the future mining of these coals has been granted by Drummond to Yellowhammer Energy. Allegiance has offtake rights from Yellowhammer Energy for 30,000 tonnes per month over 4 years, of Nickel Plate and #1 American coal. These are low ash coals (4%) which Allegiance will blend with its Black Warrior Mine, Mary Lee and Blue Creek coals. The Mary Lee coal zone including the Newcastle, Mary Lee and Blue Creek coals sit some 145 metres below the Pratt Coal zone. Following completion of the acquisition, Allegiance will control all coal produced at the Short Creek mining complex. The deposit area has been drilled extensively by prior coal mine owners including Drummond and includes more than 200 coal bed methane gas wells. The coal seams typically dip northeast to southwest in the Black Warrior basin as evidenced at Allegiance's Black Warrior mine where the Newcastle, Mary Lee and Blue Creek are surface mined whereas at Warrior Met's #4 and #7 mines are more than 500 metres deep. Locally, the presence of the Sequatchie anticline elevates the coal-bearing strata such that the surface cover of the Mary Lee seam along the northwestern edge of the Property is 100 metres, and to the south the surface cover increases to 300 metres near axis of the Coalburg syncline. The above cross section illustrates the coal seam stratigraphy noting in particular; The North zone where the in-seam partings are less than 2 foot requiring all seams to be mined together: The Central zone where the parting between the Newcastle and Mary Lee exceeds 2 foot and greater where mining will then focus on just the Mary Lee and Blue Creek together; and The South zone where the parting between the Mary Lee and Blue Creek exceeds 5 foot allowing the Blue Creek to be mined on its own, if preferred. Allegiance has engaged Marshall Miller & Associates (MMA) to deliver a JORC 2012 compliant resource statement in relation to the Newcastle, Mary Lee and Blue Creek coal seams. The resource statement is expected to be completed by late-November 2021. Initially however, MMA prepared an exploration target (as defined in the JORC Code 2012) to quickly assess the scale of the deposit. In accordance with clause 17 of the JORC Code, it noted, among other things, that the potential quantity and quality of an exploration target is conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration to estimate a coal resource in accordance with the JORC Code, and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a mineral resource. Allegiance notes in this clause that, `insufficient exploration' does not necessarily mean there has been insufficient drilling, but that there has for example, been insufficient review of drill hole data in accordance with the JORC Code which Allegiance believes is the case with this deposit. The exploration target is based on existing exploration results as opposed to proposed exploration programmes. The relevant exploration activities include: 212 exploration holes within the property boundary, with the expectation of additional data to be forthcoming. The drilling was accomplished using a combination of vertical continuous (diamond) coring, along with coalbed methane gas wells typically drilled via air rotary methods along with geophysical logging; Additional core holes including coal quality data located immediately west of and adjacent to the property; and 185 gas wells all of which have been geophysically logged. Once MMA completes the resource statement Allegiance intends to undertake additional drilling in the new year to better understand the coal quality across the entire deposit and to increase the resource categorisation under JORC, if required. Allegiance also intends to undertake a JORC compliant feasibility in the first half of 2022. The Short Creek Mine operated as a surface mine for many decades with key mine infrastructure including a wash-plant, direct feed barge loadout from the wash-plant, and all materials handling. The wash-plant is largely a shell with most operating parts removed. The concrete slab and the metal frame are in good condition. The estimated cost to rehabilitate the wash-plant to 700tph is between USD 5 million to USD 10 million depending on the extent to which Allegiance can source second-hand equipment for the wash-plant. This would comfortably handle up to 3 million ROM tonnes per annum of coal. The barge loadout and materials handling infrastructure including conveyors and two spiral stackers are in good condition. The main piece of mine infrastructure which is required is a drift from the wash-plant down to the target coal seams. A drift generally includes one to three separate roadway declines providing for underground access for men, machinery and materials, a conveyor road to carry the coal out of the mine, and two ventilation airways to allow air into the mine and air to exit the mine.