The company has exercised its earn-in agreement for the property following the completion of second phase of drilling and provided an updated resource estimate through independent geological consulting firm GEMECS.
With the increase in stake, Universal Coal owns a total of 675 million tons of resources of Berenice project.
Commenting on the developments, Universal Coal CEO Tony Weber expressed delight over the completion of final step of farm-in agreement acquiring 50% interest in Berenice project.
"The resource upgrade allows the next phase of development of the project to proceed, with a pre-feasibility study to commence by year-end," added Weber.
Further, the company has an option to increase its stake value to 74% through completion of additional conditions.
Meanwhile, Universal is expecting the first production from its Kangala mine in April 2014.
