Elixir Energy Set to Start Mongolian Drilling
THE BOWSER: Elixir Energy (ASX: EXR) is set to commence its 2019 drilling campaign at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Nomgon IX coal-bed methane (CBM) production sharing contract (PSC) located in the South of Mongolia, just near the Chinese border.
Elixir Energy will kick off proceedings with the spudding of the BO-CH-1 chip-hole this weekend.
The company explained the 2019 program has been expanded to include two to four stratigraphic chip-holes in addition to the drilling of two firm and fully evaluated core-holes.
Two rigs will be used and the option to drill a third core-hole remains.
“The commencement of our foreshadowed 2019 drilling campaign is a key step for Elixir’s exploration program over our very large 100 per cent-owned Nomgon IX CBM PSC,” Elixir Energy managing director Neil Young said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“The addition of a chip-hole drilling component to the program is a highly cost-effective way of gathering more geological information side by side with the core-holes.”
Elixir intends to not only use the chip-holes to gain valuable data about the general geology and confirm coal continuity, but also to support and substantiate a recently acquired 2D seismic program while de-risking locations for next year’s drilling program.
The company has taken delivery of international standard desorption and permeability testing tools from the USA and Australia respectively and initial training over the use of these technologies with the local contractors has been undertaken.