SRK anticipates the study will improve the understanding of the relationship between basement features and known structural risk thereby helping to reduce geological uncertainty leading to a more efficient and effective management of risk by coal companies.

Areas to benefit from the study include structural risk for coal mining, including commonly related mining risk issues such as intrusives and gas drainage, as well as resource exploration and assessment for coal, CBM and groundwater by examining fundamental structural controls.

Senior consultant Chris Woodfull said a more integrated, systematic and focused approach to structural risk mapping would help companies identify hidden geological faults, assist in long-term planning of risk management and highlight a company's effectiveness at capturing relevant data.

“If we can look at what is happening on a regional scale and gain a better understanding of the fundamentals, we should be able to improve the way structural risk issues are assessed at a smaller / mine scale," he said.

The regional interpretive study will be carried out at a range of scales from 1:1,000,000 to 1:250,000 and where practical a 1:100,000 scale for key areas.

The study findings will be based on a range of data sources including geophysical, geological, regional coal and petroleum drill hole, industry fault/structural contour, seismic, Landsat, digital elevation and stress data obtained from the public domain and complemented by industry support.

The GIS product resulting from the study due in September will be released on a tiered basis, immediately accessible to the core financial backers of the project, followed months later by the release to companies that provided data support and then the product will be made public 12 months after the initial release.

Other progress made by SRK Consulting has been the appointment of industry stalwart Pat Hanna as coal geology group principal to spearhead the company's move into the Australian coal industry.

"I am here to pull SRK's expertise in coal and metals together. The company can be a one-stop-shop for geology, geo-technical, marketing, financial and environmental expertise," he said.

Hanna brings 27 years experience as a coal geologist and independent evaluation consultant to the position. He is joined by senior geologist Grenville Davies who has 25 years industry experience and project geologist Aaron Donelan who has 10 years experience under his belt. All members of the department have worked in Australia's leading evaluation software companies.

Hanna will be based in the company's Brisbane office.