White Energy Receives Permit to Build Kentucky Coal Upgrading Plant and is Awarded Significant Economic Incentives
14 September 2010 - 10:13AM
Business Wire
White Energy Company Limited (“White Energy”) (ASX: WEC, OTCQX:
WECFY), today announced that it has been granted an air permit from
the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District to build a Coal
Upgrading facility in Kentucky, which would be located at the
Jefferson Riverport coal terminal in Louisville, Kentucky.
In addition, White Energy has received approvals from the
Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (“KEDFA”) to
receive up to $8.4 million in economic incentives related to this
project. Up to $7 million of these economic incentives are in the
form of tax rebates, which can be claimed by White Energy over a
25-year term under the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Incentives for
Energy Independence Act (“IEIA”) Tax Incentive Program. Further,
approximately $1.4 million of the economic incentives have been
granted in the form of reduced state and local property taxes,
which are available to the project through Kentucky’s Industrial
Revenue Bond program.
Based on these two significant milestones, White Energy is now
in a position to advance its plans for a Coal Upgrading project in
Louisville. Final feasibility work can now be completed and a
decision on whether the Company will proceed with the Riverport
project is expected in the next two months.
The proposed Jefferson Riverport plant would be built with an
initial capacity of 250,000 tonnes per year, with the intent to
expand capacity to 500,000 tonnes per year within the first two
years of operation. The scale of the project accelerates the time
to completion and ideally means that White Energy could have a Coal
Upgrading facility operating in the U.S. by the end of 2011.
The project would be located at the Jefferson Riverport, a coal
terminal on the Ohio River, leased to a private operator by the
City of Louisville. Jefferson Riverport offers several unique
advantages for White Energy’s proposed Coal Upgrading project. It
has a robust transportation infrastructure with access to both
barge and rail transportation. Louisville is also ideally located
from a demand perspective, with a number of coal fired power plants
located within a 50 mile radius of the proposed Coal Upgrading
facility that require high energy, low sulfur and low ash coal. It
is envisaged that the White Energy’s Coal Upgrading plant will also
look to process Kentucky waste coal fines, potentially unlocking
the residual energy value of an existing waste by-product.
The Jefferson Riverport project represents an important step to
broader deployment of White Energy’s Coal Upgrading technology in
the U.S. The project would provide an early demonstration of the
technology to U.S. utilities, investors and strategic partners and
provide an opportunity to perfect the Americanized version of the
base plant design. These factors would enhance the opportunities
for the previously announced projects with Peabody Energy and
Buckskin Mining, and ensure greater certainty with respect to plant
construction costs for the larger Wyoming plants. This project
would also help facilitate off-take and other commercial
arrangements, and significantly improve the financing options
available for the Wyoming projects.
White Energy’s proposed Jefferson Riverport project has been
received with enthusiasm by utilities, coal producers and
transportation providers. White Energy is in discussions to secure
initial, test burn off-take agreements for its upgraded coal with
several utilities in the Midwestern U.S. and is in final
negotiations with other strategic partners to provide feedstock and
transportation services on attractive terms.
“The Jefferson Riverport project is an opportunity to
significantly accelerate our business in the U.S.,” said Judy
Tanselle, President of White Energy’s North American operations.
“The potential for our unique Coal Upgrading technology to help
build the bridge to cleaner, more efficient and highly
cost-competitive coal solutions in the U.S. through broad
deployment in existing facilities is now very real. White Energy
appreciates the support and collaboration of key players in the
development of the Jefferson Riverport project, including the City
of Louisville, the Commonwealth of Kentucky and numerous strategic
partners that have offered inducements to help ensure this project
becomes a reality.”
If White Energy proceeds with the Jefferson County project, it’s
estimated to eventually produce 500,000 tonnes of upgraded coal
annually – enough to power approximately 160,000 homes. It’s also
estimated to create up to 120 full-time jobs during construction
and 17 permanent full-time positions once the plant is operational.
Given Kentucky’s leadership in coal and energy industries, White
Energy expects that its resourcing needs for the project would be
met largely within the Commonwealth.
About White Energy Company Limited
White Energy Company Limited, a Sydney-based resources company
with a long history in solid fuels, (ASX: WEC) (OTCQX: WECFY) is
the exclusive worldwide license holder of the Binderless Coal
Briquetting process, which upgrades lower rank coal to
significantly increase its energy efficiency and lower
emissions. White Energy Company has offices in Australia, USA,
Indonesia and China. For more information please visit
www.whiteenergyco.com.This press release contains forward-looking
statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These
forward-looking statements include information about possible or
assumed future results of our business, financial condition,
liquidity, results of operations, plans and objectives. In some
cases, you may identify forward-looking statements by words such as
"may," "should," "plan," "intend," "potential," "continue,"
"believe," "expect," "predict," "anticipate" and "estimate," the
negative of these words or other comparable words. These statements
are only predictions. One should not place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are
qualified by their terms and/or important factors, many of which
are outside the Company's control, involve a number of risks,
uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results and
events to differ materially from the statements made. The
forward-looking statements are based on the Company's beliefs,
assumptions and expectations of our future performance, taking into
account information currently available to the Company. These
beliefs, assumptions and expectations can change as a result of
many possible events or factors, not all of which are known to the
Company. Neither the Company nor any other person assumes
responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of these
statements. The Company will update the information in this press
release only to the extent required under applicable securities
laws. If a change occurs, the Company's business, financial
condition, liquidity and results of operations may vary materially
from those expressed in the aforementioned forward-looking
statements.
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