27th Apr 2016 08:40
LONDON (Alliance News) - Altona Energy PLC on Wednesday said the Arckaringa joint venture company has appointed its board members and started to carry out its initial tasks.
Altona has established Arckaringa Coal Chemical Joint Venture Co Pty Ltd with two partners, Sino-Aus Energy Group Ltd and Wintask Group Ltd, to focus on the Arckaringa project in South Australia.
The joint venture will exploit the resources at the project using underground coal gasification, a method that extracts gas from small segments of coal using similar methods to fracking.
On Wednesday, Altona said the joint venture company held its first shareholder and board meeting which has led to the board of the joint venture company being established.
Altona's Executive Chairman Qinfu Zhang will chair the joint venture company whilst Yueqin Yin, the current chairman of Sino-Aus, will hold the role of chief executive at the joint venture firm.
Altona's Non-Executive Director Phil Sutherland, Sino-Aus Director Guang Chen and Wintask Group Director Jiahong Zhang will take up board positions within the joint venture company, which will establish an office in Xi'an in China, to house day-to-day administrative and financial activities, it said.
"The board agreed a number of immediate tasks which will be carried out by the joint venture company and its appointed advisers focusing on the preparation of a project plan and feasibility study designed to prove the viability of the project," said Altona.
Those initial tasks, which are integral parts of the necessary bankable feasibility study for Arckaringa, include carrying out detailed exploration work over the coal resources in the primary mining area and an analysis of the engineering geology and hydrology. The partners also will trial underground coal gasification methods and initiate an environmental protection plan.
The joint venture company has also signed a service agreement with WSP Parsons Brinkerhoff (Australia), a mining engineering specialist. WSP Parsons will work with the joint venture company to develop an overall framework agreement to outline what services will be needed to carry out the project.
WSP Parsons will investigate, drill and carry out a coring programme on the project to define the size and quality of the coal resource at various depths, and will also undertake a technology review to look at existing underground coal gasification technologies to choose the best method.
Altona said it will update shareholders once a timeline for that work has been agreed.
"We are delighted that the joint venture company has held its first meeting and agreed a plan of action to determine the best way to access our asset's vast resources," said Altona Executive Chairman Qinfu Zhang.
"It gives me great pleasure to advise our shareholders that the project is now underway, and we hope to complete the bankable feasibility study for our Arckaringa site, as planned," he added.
Altona shares were trading up 1.4% to 1.27 pence per share on Wednesday morning.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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