Sino Prosper secures licenses to explore bitumen resources on Buton Island

Hong Kong Bourse-listed firm Sino Prosper Resources Limited (SPRL) announced on Tuesday that its 65 percent-owned Indonesian subsidiary PT Sino Prosper Indocarbon had secured five licenses to explore bitumen resources over a total area of 24,382 hectares on Buton Island, Southeast Sulawesi.

SPRL said asbuton (raw material of asphalt) reserves in the area are estimated to reach around 8 billion cubic meters or around 13.6 billion metric tons.

?On the assumption of 10 percent extraction rate, it is estimated that 1.2 billion metric tons of marine fuel oil and 136,000,000 metric tons of asphalt modifier could he extracted from such 24,382 hectares bitumen mine,? SPRL said in a statement to the bourse. (Robert)