Green light for $20m clean coal trial

Through a Joint Venture with CSIRO and Carbon Energy Pty Ltd, Metex Resources...

  Through a Joint Venture with CSIRO and Carbon Energy Pty Ltd, Metex Resources has reinforced its position at the forefront of clean coal technology development having received all necessary approvals to proceed with a large-scale A$20m Underground Coal Gasification syngas trial at Bloodwood Creek in the Surat Basin, located 55km west of Dalby in southeast Queensland.The approvals—granted by the Minister of Mines and Energy for Queensland and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—represent the final step before development and construction of the surface and underground components can proceed for what will be the world’s first commercial scale oxygen-injected UCG trial. Carbon Energy has identified a strategic site within its 100 million tonne high quality coal resource at Bloodwood Creek and will evaluate the prospective commercialisation of UCG and its product syngas.Metex’s Managing Director Ian Walker said the approvals represented a major breakthrough for Metex and the Carbon Energy Joint Venture.“This is the most significant development in our UGC program to date and effectively gives us the green light to begin what will be a large-scale demonstration of the capability of this outstanding technology,” Mr Walker said. The UCG trial will involve drilling boreholes from surface to the underground coal seam, and gasifying the coal in-situ. This will produce a syngas suitable for conversion into feedstock for power generation, or for conversion into ultra-clean liquid fuels and chemical.“A successful trial demonstration will confirm our status as the world’s first company with the ability to utilise commercial scale UCG syngas, which, through the flexibility in the form it takes, can meet the gas supply requirements for any power station or chemical plant,” Mr Walker said.