Altona Energy Plc Strategy Update
August 10 2017 - 4:32AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMANR
10 August
2017
Altona Energy Plc
("Altona" or "the Company")
Strategy Update
The Board of Altona (AIM: ANR) is pleased to provide the following strategy
update to shareholders:
The Company, along with its joint venture partners Sino-Aus Energy Group Ltd
("Sino-Aus") and Wintask Group Ltd ("Wintask") (together the "JV Partners")
have agreed a change in strategy for the exploitation of its coal asset at the
Arckaringa site, where the Company continues to own three Exploration Licences
(EL4511, EL4512 and EL4513). This decision has been made following the
break-down in negotiations with the current owner of the Petroleum Exploration
Licence Application 604.
The new strategy will see conventional coal mining techniques employed to
extract the coal deposits which will then be processed to extract gas for
electricity generation for the South Australian power grid as well as for the
production of ethanol and methanol.
The Board of the JV Company will appoint WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff, Australia
("PB") to produce a report addressing the following four areas:
1. Establish the existence across the three mining tenements of a "dry" coal
deposit(s) of sufficient quantity and quality to sustain a commercially
viable and profitable coal mining project(s) dedicated to the production of
electricity and/or methanol or ethanol.
2. If dry deposits are not economically viable, to investigate the probability
of a low environmental impact "wet" coal deposit(s) dedicated to the
production of electricity and/or methanol or ethanol.
3. Provide an estimate of the size of power plant (MW capacity) that would be
needed to make the project commercially viable and calculate the coal
capacity required.
4. Should the "wet" coal deposit be the most likely option, provide the best
available conventional and non-conventional technologies to extract the
coal in a manner that will limit or avoid impacting or intersecting the
Great Artesian Basin.
The JV Partners have agreed to fund this report. Once PB has complied the
report, the JV Partners, including Altona, will meet with PB to agree on
further investigations e.g. drilling, aeromagnetic survey, seismic designed to
define the target area including prospective mine parameters and scale.
Further, the Company will provide PB with all the historic technical data it
has collated over the years regarding the tenements and the viability of mining
coal using traditional methods.
Mr Qinfu Zhang, Executive Chairman of Altona, commented, "The Company will now
investigate a coal to gas operation. It is a low risk option using well-proven
methods of extraction and coal conversion. We have always had two choices to
develop our extensive coal assets. To this end we have a vast amount of
technical data regarding the coal and geology at Arckaringa which we will pass
on to PB to expedite the delivery of their report.
"We are disappointed that we cannot progress our plans for using the UCG at
this time but recognise it was a high-risk method of extraction with limited
rates of success in Australia, to date. The Board considers that the return to
traditional coal extraction and processing methods is in the best interests of
shareholders in the current circumstances.
"In making this decision the board was cognisant of the acute energy deficit in
South Australia and the opportunity this presents for energy producers."
-ends-
For further information, please visit www.altonaenergy.com or contact:
Altona Energy plc +44 (0)7555 679 245
Qinfu Zhang, Executive Chairman
Leander (Financial PR) +44 (0)7795 168 157
Christian Taylor- Wilkinson
Northland Capital Partners Ltd (Nomad and +44 (0)20 3861 6625
Broker)
Matthew Johnson / Gerry Beaney (Corporate
Finance)
John Howes (Corporate Broking)
About Altona
Altona is listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market. Its principal
focus is on the evaluation and development of the Company's flagship Arckaringa
Project to exploit the significant coal resources contained in three
exploration licences covering 2,500 sq. kms in the northern portion of the
Permian Arckaringa Basin in South Australia. The Project is designed to
produce syngas products for the Australian market and export from a resource
exceeding 7.8 billion tonnes of coal (1.3 billion tonnes JORC compliant).
END
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