White Energy, Bayan to commence construction of E. Kalimantan coal upgrading plant

Australian firm White Energy Company Limited said Friday that its coal upgrading joint venture in East Kalimantan is currently in the process of finalizing tender documentation to enable construction of the plant to be commenced.

The company, in joint venture with coal producer PT. Bayan Resources, is planning to build coal briquetting plant with initial capacity of 1 million tonnes per annum upgradable to 5MTPA in Bayan?s Tabang mine.

Bayan had agreed to annual offtake obligation of 1.5 million tons per annum over the fisrt five years of the plant?s operations. The plant is expected to commence operations in seond half of 2007.

Bayan and White Energy are exploiting the patented coal technology to process relatively poor quality coal from Bayan?s Tabang mine in East Kalimantan into higher quality and more environmentally friendly product.

The joint venture is 51 percent owned by White?s and 49 percent by Bayan. (alex)