PTBA to acquire stake in Aussie technology firm

IDX-coal miner PT Bukit Asam Tbk (PTBA) plans to acquire 15-30 percent stake in Australian coal technology provider Ignite Energy Resources.

?The government of Australia and the government of Victoria (state) have approved the acquisition (plan),? said PTBA President Director Milawarma as quoted by Investor Daily on Tuesday as saying.

Ignite owns a technology that could convert low rank coal into synthetic crude oil and high calorific value coal or pulverized coal injection (PCI), which PTBA is keen to be developed in Indonesia. The synthetic crude oil can later be processed into gasoline and kerosene, while PCI can be directly used at steel manufacturing plant and low emission power plant.

This portal reported on May 6 that PTBA and Ignite had signed an MoU to the so-called Cat-HTR technology in Indonesia.

PTBA has a vision to become a world-class energy firm with coal reserves amounting to 7.3 billion tons in Indonesia, Meanwhile, IER, an energy technology developer holding the patent right of Cat-HTR technology, also operates coal reserves amounting to 16.4 billion in the State of Victoria in Australia.

PTBA said on May 6 it had sent samples of its low-calorie coal to Australia to undergo tests using Cat-HTR technology at a pilot factory owned by IER and the tests resulted in synthetic crude oil resembling crude oil in terms of quality and PCI with a calorie content of 7,000 kcal per kg. (*)