Cleaner Coal Commercial Scale Production Plant CompletedFigure 1: White Energy's coal upgrading plant at Cessnock, NSW. For furt

  
    
  
  
    
      White Energy Company Limited (ASX: WEC) today announced the completion 
      of construction of the Company’s commercial 
      scale production plant at Cessnock, New South Wales. The Cessnock Plant, 
      which utilises White Energy’s licensed 
      binderless coal briquetting technology, to upgrade lower rank coal to 
      significantly increase its energy efficiency, has an installed capacity 
      of 90,000 tonnes per annum.
    
    
      The Cessnock Plant was completed on schedule and in line with budget 
      estimates. White Energy’s internal 
      commissioning team has taken over the Plant and has begun the cold 
      commissioning phase, which involves the testing of the various 
      components of the Plant. This will be followed by a hot commissioning 
      program which will involve the processing of significant quantities of 
      feedstock coal to ensure the optimal functioning of the Plant. It is 
      envisaged that the commissioning phases will conclude in approximately 
      six weeks at which point the Cessnock Plant will be in full production 
      mode.
    
    
      White Energy’s Managing Director, Mr John 
      Atkinson says “The completion of White Energy’s 
      first commercial production plant represents a significant milestone for 
      the Company.
    
    
      “We are delighted that the Cessnock Plant has 
      been built on time and on budget. It is obviously an exciting time for 
      the Company to now have an operating facility available to upgrade coal 
      for commercial and developmental purposes. But just as exciting is the 
      fact that we will soon be processing coal for power companies to use to 
      conduct combustion tests and trial burns some months in advance of what 
      was originally forecast. ”
    
    
      The Cessnock Plant is White Energy’s premier 
      production, testing and showcase facility in Australia. The Plant uses 
      White Energy’s licensed and patented process 
      to upgrade sub-bituminous coal into a higher energy, more stable, 
      cleaner burning coal briquette. The upgraded product can be transported 
      and handled like normal coal, but has significant transportation cost 
      benefits, combustion advantages and, importantly, is a cleaner fuel from 
      an emissions perspective when compared to the burning of traditional 
      thermal coal.
    
    
      The design and construction of the Cessnock Plant, is representative of 
      the design and construction process required for the one million tonne 
      per annum commercial plant currently being built by White Energy, in 
      joint venture with Bayan International Pte Ltd, at Tabang, East 
      Kalimantan, Indonesia. The successful completion of construction of the 
      Cessnock Plant has provided invaluable practical experience for the 
      Company ahead of building its one million tonne per annum plant at the 
      Tabang mine in Indonesia.
    
    
      The Cessnock Plant will also be used for continued development purposes 
      and will be an important research and training facility for the Company. 
      White Energy will also be able to train its commissioning teams at the 
      Cessnock Plant in preparation for the commissioning of plants planned to 
      be built by the company in Indonesia, China and the United States of 
      America during 2009.
    
    
      Prior to the completion of the Cessnock Plant, White Energy had secured 
      joint venture arrangements to construct plants with over 13MTPA of 
      installed capacity. The company expects that the completion of the 
      Cessnock Plant will generate further strong interest and demand from 
      overseas customers in Indonesia, China, USA and Africa, including large 
      international mining and investment houses, wishing to partner with 
      White Energy to construct plants using White Energy’s 
      technology.
    
    
      White Energy has received continued strong support for it’s 
      cleaner coal upgrading technology from both the New South Wales and 
      Commonwealth Governments. In early May, during the final stages of 
      construction of the Plant, Senator the Hon Penny Wong, Minister for 
      Climate Change and Water and the Hon. Joel Fitzgibbon MP, Minister of 
      Defence and the Federal Member for Hunter, visited White Energy’s 
      Cessnock Plant.
    
    
      Following this visit, Mr Fitzgibbon said, “White 
      Energy is to be congratulated on its commitment to cleaner coal 
      initiatives.
    
    
      “The completion of construction of White 
      Energy’s cleaner coal production plant at 
      Cessnock, highlights the importance of the Hunter region in supporting 
      cleaner coal initiatives and how the region is playing a pivotal role in 
      Australia’s future energy policy.”
    
    
      Government support of White Energy’s 
      commercialisation of its technology also included White Energy receiving 
      a A$4.35 million grant from the Commonwealth Government through 
      AusIndustry’s Commercial Ready innovation 
      grant program specifically for assisting the Company to build the 
      Cessnock Plant.
    
    
      About White Energy
    
    
      White Energy is the exclusive worldwide license holder of the Binderless 
      Coal Briquetting process that upgrades relatively poor quality coal to 
      significantly increase its energy efficiency. The process was developed 
      by CSIRO in conjunction with TraDet Inc, K.R. Komarek Inc and The 
      Griffin Coal Mining Company Pty Ltd. The patented process involves the 
      crushing, drying and briquetting of high moisture coals, resulting in 
      the reduction of the moisture content of the coal and converting the 
      product into a higher energy content, stable briquette. The advantages 
      of the White Energy process involve creating a higher energy value coal, 
      creating a physically and chemically stable product, significantly 
      reducing coal transportation costs and creating a higher energy value 
      release with lower carbon emissions. The process has been shown to be 
      cost and operationally superior to competing technologies.
    
    
      The White Energy technology also represents a first step in building a 
      cleaner coal solution. White Energy’s process 
      is an important first step – an evolutionary 
      process that speeds the maturation of lower grade coals. White Energy is 
      committed to delivering cleaner coal technologies with a view to 
      ultimately achieving zero emission targets.
    
    
      White Energy is in the process of commercialising this technology and is 
      currently constructing a commercial one million tonne per annum plant in 
      Indonesia in joint venture with Bayan Resources. The Company also has a 
      joint venture agreement with Adaro Group, one of Indonesia’s 
      largest coal companies and Itochu Corporation, a major Japanese trading 
      house respectively, to build additional coal upgrading plants in 
      Indonesia. Further, White Energy has also signed a Heads of Agreement 
      with Datang International Power Generation Company in relation to the 
      development of coal upgrading plants in China. Most recently, the 
      Company has entered into a development agreement with NRG Energy and 
      Buckskin Mining in respect of a potential project in USA. In addition to 
      these projects, the company is actively pursuing opportunities to deploy 
      its technology across various markets including Indonesia, China, India, 
      Mongolia, Africa and the USA.
    
    
      This press release contains forward-looking statements that are 
      subject to risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements 
      include information about possible or assumed future results of our 
      business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations, plans 
      and objectives. In some cases, you may identify forward-looking 
      statements by words such as "may," "should," "plan," "intend," 
      "potential," "continue," "believe," "expect," "predict," "anticipate" 
      and "estimate," the negative of these words or other comparable words. 
      These statements are only predictions. One should not place undue 
      reliance on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking 
      statements are qualified by their terms and/or important factors, many 
      of which are outside the Company's control, involve a number of risks, 
      uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results and 
      events to differ materially from the statements made. The 
      forward-looking statements are based on the Company's beliefs, 
      assumptions and expectations of our future performance, taking into 
      account information currently available to the Company. These beliefs, 
      assumptions and expectations can change as a result of many possible 
      events or factors, including those events and factors described in "Risk 
      Factors" in the prospectus, not all of which are known to the Company. 
      Neither the Company nor any other person assumes responsibility for the 
      accuracy or completeness of these statements. The Company will update 
      the information in this press release only to the extent required under 
      applicable securities laws. If a change occurs, the Company's business, 
      financial condition, liquidity and results of operations may vary 
      materially from those expressed in the aforementioned forward-looking 
      statements.