The coal licenses were approved following detailed consultation with the Tahltan and Gitxsan First Nations and are said to be contiguous with the company’s existing coal licenses at Groundhog.
Atrum Coal chairman James Chisholm said: "The additional coal licences granted at Groundhog offer Atrum the opportunity to increase the anthracite inventory."
"Recent PFS results focused on only two of more than twenty anthracite seams in an area representing less than 5% of the total Groundhog Project. Longer term, we will seek to identify further areas at Groundhog, including the areas recently granted, that can provide low impact, mine expansion opportunities," added Chisholm.
In May, a prefeasibility study (PFS) at the Groundhog anthracite project revealed that the project delivers 5.4 million tons a year run-of-mine (RoM) coal over a 16-year period.
The mine would require a capital investment of A$10m ($9.3m) in 2014, and a further A$67.1m ($62.8m) in 2015.
