25th May 2006 16:00
Anglo American PLC25 May 2006 Joint News Release 25 May 2006 ANGLO AMERICAN AND SHELL FORM A CLEAN COAL ENERGY ALLIANCE Anglo American plc ("Anglo American") and Shell Gas & Power International B.V.("Shell") today announced the formation of an Alliance in the field of coalconversion to clean energy. The two leading companies aim to maximise the benefits from the emerging fieldof clean coal energy by taking selective equity positions in coal conversionprojects. These projects will utilise the extensive coal reserves of AngloAmerican and combine its mining capabilities with Shell's leading-edgetechnologies. The objective is to extract, gasify and then convert coal intochemicals, hydrogen, power, liquid hydrocarbons and other uses. Anglo American and Shell share common corporate values and a commitment tosustainable development, which will be applied to the Alliance and futureprojects. Burning the synthesis gas generated by the gasification of coal emitssignificantly lower quantities of greenhouse gases and pollutants thantraditional coal burning and is the cleanest way to harness the energy potentialof coal - the world's dominant fuel source. Tony Trahar, Chief Executive of Anglo American, said, "The ability of AngloAmerican and Shell to form a clean coal energy Alliance, which has the potentialto develop multiple projects, will create a sustainable competitive advantage,whilst creating value for shareholders of both the Alliance partners." Linda Cook, Executive Director, Shell Gas & Power said, "This Alliance furtheradvances the significant progress that Shell has made in developing clean coalenergy. The technology, and the potential opportunities that it will unlock, isexciting and we look forward to working with Anglo American." The Alliance partners are currently investigating an opportunity to incorporateAnglo American's Monash Energy Project, based in Australia, into the Alliance. This project is exploring technologies that produce liquid fuels fromnon-conventional sources, such as coal. The project initially envisages acoalmine, drying and gasification plant, carbon dioxide capture and storage anda gas-to- liquids (GTL) plant with associated power generation. For further information: Anglo AmericanLondon:Investor RelationsCharles Gordon +44 20 7968 8933 Media RelationsPam Bell +44 20 7968 8568 Johannesburg:Investor/Media RelationsAnne Dunn +27 11 638 4730 +27 82 448 2684 ShellLondon:Jonathon Charles +44 20 7934 3045 Note To Editors: Anglo American plc is one of the world's largest mining and natural resourcegroups. With its subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates, it is a globalleader in platinum group metals, gold and diamonds, with significant interestsin coal, base and ferrous metals, industrial minerals and paper and packaging.The group is geographically diverse, with operations in Africa, Europe, Southand North America, Australia and Asia. (www.angloamerican.co.uk) Monash Energy is helping to meet the challenges of energy security and climatechange by applying to brown coal advanced drying and gasification technologiesto produce large volumes of ultra-clean synthetic diesel. Critically, thetechnologies chosen by Monash Energy enable separation of a concentrated streamof CO2 that can be transported to injection wells in deep underground geologicalformations for secure storage. The core of the project is a large-scalecommercial plant in Victoria's Latrobe Valley, drawing coal from its own mineand then drying and gasifying the coal for conversion into transport fuels. Shell Gas & Power is a collective term for the separate and distinct companieswithin the Royal Dutch Shell plc (the Group) that carry out the Group's naturalgas and power activities. Shell Gas & Power is engaged in activities spreadacross 30 countries throughout the world covering natural gas and LNGinfrastructure and market development, marketing and trading of natural gas andelectricity, power plant development and Gas to Liquids conversion. Shell Gas & Power holds leading positions in all three key natural gas markets(Asia Pacific, Europe and North America), and owns interests in five operatingLNG joint ventures that together produced approximately one-third (50 milliontons) of the world's LNG production in 2004. With interests in five new LNGtrains currently under construction, including a new project in Russia, Shellaims to further strengthen its portfolio of assets and technology to maintainglobal leadership in this growing sector. More information is available at: www.shell.com/shellgasandpower-en This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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