In late May 2018, MBGS Managing Director Kerry Whitby, accepted an invitation to represent the Committee for Mineral Reserves Industrial Reporting Standards (CRIRSCO) at a workshop in Kolkata, India, aimed at sharing details of the internationally accepted CRIRSCO compliant codes, such as JORC, for public reporting of resources and reserves for minerals and coal.

The Mining Geological and Metallurgical Institute of India (MGMI) facilitated the workshop which enabled experts in their field to support the development of an internationally acceptable public reporting code for India.

In three presentations over the two day workshop, Kerry discussed how Coal Resource and Reserve reporting is practised in countries such as Australia with active mining industries; geological modelling and coal resource estimation of coal deposits with reference to the Australian Coal Guidelines; and the role of the Competent Person and the concept of “reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction” for coal.

The workshop was a huge success with robust and interactive question time discussions that gave both the audience and the presenters plenty to think about in terms of aspects that are likely to influence the short term and long term development of the coal mining industry in India.