Atrum Coal Ltd (Atrum or the Company) (ASX: ATU) is pleased to provide an update on its 100%-owned Elan Hard Coking Coal Project (Elan Project) in southern Alberta, Canada.

Elan Project 2019 drilling campaign update

Drilling continued in both Elan South and Isolation South area till last week. Core drilling at Isolation South for coal quality testing and further RAB drilling at Elan South now expected to conclude in January 2020.

Elan South

A total of 119 rotary air blast (RAB) exploration holes have been completed at Elan South in 2019 for a total of 20,150 metres of drilling (as at 16 December 2019). The main focus of drilling has been at South East Corner (65 RAB holes) and Fish Hook (39 RAB holes), with an additional 15 RAB holes completed at Oil Pad Ridge.

At South East Corner, large diameter (LD) coring has been completed at 3 sites and PQ coring at 8 sites, with the coring undertaken at defined intervals based on the twinning of existing structure holes. Five LD cored holes have been completed at Fish Hook, and current drilling at Oil Pad Ridge has resulted in another three LD holes completed.

Core drilling at Elan South has been significantly slower than expected, particularly over recent weeks, due to mobilisation delays and equipment maintenance downtime. As a result, analytical testing of the core samples taken from Fish Hook, South East Corner and Oil Pad Ridge in 2019 is expected to be complete in mid/late 1Q 2020.

Isolation South

A total of 49 RAB exploration holes have been completed at Isolation South for 7,850 metres of drilling. Eight holes have been completed in the southern area and 41 completed in the area north of the Oldman River on Cabin Ridge.

The RAB holes at Isolation South complement 19 historical HQ size fully cored holes drilled in the 1970's.

Total Elan Project HCC resources

As noted earlier, an update to the overall Elan South resource, incorporating all 2019 drilling in this area (and including a maiden resource estimate for South East Corner), is now expected in 1Q 2020.

As also previously flagged, exceptionally thick seams encountered in recent Isolation South drilling are not yet incorporated in the resource estimate. These results include intercepts of cumulative apparent thicknesses exceeding 100 metres in multiple holes.

This area of structural thickening presents further significant resource upside potential at Isolation South. This upside potential is to be complemented and validated by planned drilling of cores for coal quality testing being undertaken at Isolation South in January 2020.

Expanded Elan Scoping Study

The total areal footprint of the Elan Project, combined with its thick, shallow and hiqh-quality coal seam development, evidences clear potential for a multi-mine hard coking coal province. The decision to concurrently progress evaluation of Isolation South this year, alongside acceleration of exploration at Elan South, reflected Atrum's strategy to rapidly advance multiple, large Tier 1 hard coking coal developments across the Elan Project.

The Isolation South drilling results during 2019 have, as previously reported, consistently returned shallow, thick cumulative coal intercepts. The recent interim resource update for Isolation South also saw a substantial 97 Mt increase to 217 Mt. The relatively shallow depth (120 Mt of resource at less than 100 metres depth) and moderate dip angles seen at Isolation South also mean that a large proportion of this enlarged resource is potentially very low strip ratio tonnage. In aggregate, drilling results and resource estimate outcomes at Isolation South this year have significantly exceeded Atrum's expectations.

Given the considerable project upside potential that Isolation South offers, and the delay to the Elan South resource update into 1Q 2020, Atrum has elected to incorporate Isolation South into an expanded Elan Scoping Study. The enlarged Elan Scoping Study will incorporate mine designs and production schedules for both Elan South and Isolation South, as well as project infrastructure and transport logistics solutions that are fully integrated for a dual development. Targeted completion of the expanded Elan Scoping Study is now scheduled for 1Q 2020.

Contact:

Max Wang

Tel: +1 403 973 3137

About Atrum Coal

Atrum Coal (ASX: ATU) is a metallurgical coal developer. The Company's flagship asset is the 100%-owned Elan Hard Coking Coal Project in southern Alberta, Canada. Elan hosts large-scale, shallow, thick, hard coking coal (HCC) deposits with a current JORC Resource Estimate of 395 Mt (110 Mt Indicated and 285 Mt Inferred).1 Comprehensive quality testing of Elan South coal on samples from the 2018 exploration program, combined with review of substantial historical testwork data for the broader Elan Project, has confirmed Tier 1 HCC quality.

The Elan South area is located approximately 13 km from an existing rail line with significant excess capacity, providing direct rail access to export terminals in Vancouver and Prince Rupert. Elan South shares its southern boundary with Riversdale Resources' Grassy Mountain Project, which is in the final permitting stage for a 4.5 Mtpa open-cut HCC operation. Around 30 km to the west, Teck Resources operates five mines (the Elk Valley complex) producing approximately 25 Mtpa of premium HCC for the seaborne market.

A Scoping Study to evaluate development of the Elan Project, incorporating mining of both the Elan South and Isolation South areas, is targeted for completion in 1Q 2020. This work will feed into a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) which is planned to be completed in 2H 2020.

(C) 2019 Electronic News Publishing, source ENP Newswire