White Energy, Bayan to go ahead with coal briquetting project

Australian firm White Energy Co Ltd and PT Bayan Resources have agreed to go ahead with their joint venture to build a coal briquetting facility in Indonesia following the completion of a detailed review of the financial feasibility study on the project.

White Energy said Friday the joint venture would immediately commence implementation work on the plant with an initial production capacity of 1 million tons per annum.

It said Bayan had agreed to increase the size and scope of the project from an annual output of 3 million tons of upgraded coal to 5 million tons with annual offtake obligation of 1.5 million tons, up from the previously committed 500,000 tons per annum.

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. (Robert)