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:
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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
Qinfu Zhang, Executive Chairman |
+44 (0)7555 679
245 |
Leander (Financial
PR)
Christian Taylor- Wilkinson |
+44 (0)7795 168
157 |
Northland Capital
Partners Ltd (Nomad and Broker)
Matthew Johnson / Gerry Beaney (Corporate Finance)
John Howes (Corporate Broking)
|
+44 (0)20 3861
6625 |
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).