A new estimate puts coal resources at Phulbari in northern Bangladesh at 572 million tonnes from an earlier figure of 522 million tonnes.

Such a reserve of high quality coal is enough to generate 8000-megawatts of power for more than 30 years.

UK based company Asia Energy, which has now nearly completed a study there, yesterday announced that of this, 288 million tonnes of coal falls in the measured or confirmed category, 244 million tonnes in the indicated category and the rest in the inferred category.

Coal geology specialist Frans Bos of Melbourne-based independent consultancy GHD Pty Ltd. revised the estimate for Asia Energy. The revision added data from newly drilled southern boreholes, for which results were still pending when the previous resource estimate was prepared in May.

The recently completed drilling programme and gravity surveys suggest the basin remains open and extends further southward. GHD in a statement on the revision adds that additional drilling is required to confirm the southern extent of the coal basin.

"This further confirms the quality of the Phulbari resource," said Asia Energy's Joint Managing Director, Mr. David Lenigas. "We are also excited by the prospect of still more coal to be found at the southern end of the basin."

Asia Energy has drilled more than 100 exploration holes in the Phulbari area and, pending final authorisation by the Government of Bangladesh, is planning to start mining operations there in 2007.

Earlier Asia Energy told The Daily Star that it is preparing a 30 year open pit coal mining plan for the Phulbari Project, which would require relocating around 50,000 people of about a 100 villages and a part of Phulbari town. In return, the project would fetch the government $200 million annually.

Working in Bangladesh from 1998 under an agreement with the government, the company started from last year a $20 million feasibility study. The study will be completed by September and then the company will submit a proposal to the government to develop the mine.

If the plan is approved, under the coal development policy, 1993, the government will get only a 6 percent royalty from Asia Energy, plus different types of taxes.