White Energy's Successful Production of Upgraded Coal at Cessnock Plant

  
    
  
  
    
      White Energy Company Limited (ASX: WEC) today confirmed that it has 
      successfully produced upgraded coal at its binderless coal briquetting 
      plant at Cessnock, New South Wales.
    
    
      Having completed construction eight weeks ago, key elements of the 
      commissioning phase are now finalised with all relevant certifications 
      for running the Plant being received at the end of last week. At the 
      beginning of this week, the drying furnace was fired allowing us to run 
      feedstock coal through the process. The Plant operated exactly as 
      expected with upgraded coal being produced to specification.
    
    
      White Energy’s Managing Director Mr. John 
      Atkinson says, “Producing upgraded coal from 
      White Energy’s Cessnock Plant represents a 
      significant milestone for the Company. We are delighted that the 
      Cessnock Plant is now operational. Our focus now turns to utilising the 
      Cessnock facility to work with a range of feedstock coals to be provided 
      by existing and potential partners to produce upgraded, high energy coal 
      in sufficient quantity to enable meaningful combustion tests and trial 
      burns of White Coal.”
    
    
      In this regard we plan to upgrade a number of coals at Cessnock in the 
      next few months. This will include the processing of extremely high 
      moisture (approximately 65%) brown coal from the Latrobe Valley in 
      Victoria.
    
    
      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 commissioning process at Cessnock has already 
      provided invaluable practical experience for the Company ahead of 
      completing the Tabang plant.
    
    
      The Cessnock Plant is White Energy’s premier 
      production, testing and showcase facility in Australia. It has an 
      installed capacity of 90,000 tonnes per annum. 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.
    
    
      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 Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (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 product whilst maintaining the low 
      sulphur, low ash characteristics of the feedstock coal. The process has 
      been shown to be cost and operationally superior to competing 
      technologies and represents a first step in building a cleaner coal 
      solution.
    
    
      White Energy is in the process of commercializing this technology and is 
      currently constructing a one million tonne per annum plant in Indonesia 
      in joint venture with PT Bayan Resources. The Company also has a joint 
      venture agreement with the Adaro Group, one of Indonesia’s 
      largest coal companies, and Itochu Corporation, a major Japanese trading 
      house, to build additional coal upgrading plants in Indonesia. Further, 
      White Energy has signed a Heads of Agreement with Datang International 
      Power Generation Company in relation to the development of coal 
      upgrading plants in China and is currently completing financial 
      feasibility on this project. Most recently, the Company has entered into 
      a development agreement with NRG Energy Inc. and Buckskin Mining Inc. in 
      respect of a potential project in the coal rich Powder River Basin area 
      of the USA. Again, final feasibility work is being completed in respect 
      of this project. In addition to these projects, the company is actively 
      reviewing a number of other opportunities in the markets mentioned and 
      is also considering proposals to deploy its technology in other markets 
      such as India, Mongolia and Africa.
    
    
      This press release contains forward-looking statements that are 
      subject to risks and uncertainties. These forwardlooking 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.