Yari Resources (ASX:YAR) has identified the potential for three different coal products at its recently acquired Arcadia Coal Project in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.
An independent coal-quality review has highlighted possible pathways to semi-soft coking coal, PCI and high-energy thermal coal across the 282Mt resource.
Flexibility can be valuable.
Instead of building the project around one coal specification, Yari is now assessing whether different parts of the deposit can feed different markets.
Low ash gives Yari options
The review found average in-situ ash of roughly 10% across the assessed coal.
That provides a potentially useful starting point for raw-coal products, particularly PCI and high-energy thermal coal, while beneficiation could further reduce ash and improve product quality.
The company says selective mining could also target coal with semi-soft coking characteristics.
Figure 1: Product Ash / Decrease in Ash with Washing.
The metallurgical angle is the interesting bit
Preliminary analysis suggests selective mining could deliver an average Crucible Swell Number of around 3 across approximately 32% of the assessed low-ash deposit.
Historical washability work indicates beneficiation may improve CSN by around one to two points.
Yari explicitly says it is a preliminary coal-quality assessment, not a separate Mineral Resource category.
But it does open a potentially more valuable product pathway for part of the deposit.
Figure 2: Product CSN / Increase in CSN with Washing.
PCI and thermal remain firmly in the mix
Arcadia’s low average ash also supports potential high-yield PCI and high-energy thermal products.
The company says selective raw coal mining could provide marketable material with relatively limited processing, while washing could further improve energy content and product quality.
The resource could still move
Yari is also expanding the technical dataset behind Arcadia.
The current review includes five additional cored petroleum and CSG wells, plus three 2022 coal exploration holes that were not incorporated into the 2017 resource model.
Further historical drilling and technical data are also being validated for future geological modelling and studies.
That means the current 282Mt resource may not be the end of the story.
Figure 3: Arcadia Coal Project showing drilling incorporated into the 2017 geological model, additional historical CSG wells incorporated into the current technical review and three 2022 coal-exploration holes.
What’s next
Yari and McMahon Resources will now work through product proportions, yields, specifications and beneficiation requirements across the coking, PCI and thermal pathways.
The next phase should start answering the commercial question that really matters.
How much of each product can Arcadia produce, at what yield, and with how much processing?
Arcadia already had scale, now Yari is trying to prove it has optionality too.
