Australia-based coal company Cokal has finished the environmental impact study (EIS) for its Bumi Barito Mineral (BBM) coal project, located in Indonesia.

The company has submitted the EIS to the Central Kalimantan provincial government. The EIS approval is expected soon, following which construction of the project will begin in the fourth quarter of 2013. Production has been slated to begin in the first half of 2014, reported Miningweekly.com

The BBM project is expected to produce up to 6.5 million tons run-of-mine coal every year, of which 5.6 million tons of saleable product could be generated annually.

Cokal executive chairperson Peter Lynch was quoted by Miningweekly.com as saying that the project’s prefeasibility study reinforces its technical and economic viability.

"We are now focused on completing all the necessary applications and approvals required to take the project into production," Lynch added.

The company noted that it has begun studies in areas where it has identified critical path scheduling issues and technical requirements in order to begin production by early 2014.