brown coal, page-19

Clarification is needed on this thread.

Firstly, the paragraph posted that discusses MTE technology does NOT relate to ESI at all. It's the way it flows on from having talked about ESI etc that makes it misleading.

MTE technology stands for Mechanical Thermal Expression and as previously stated in one of my posts is ESI's nearest technical rival. Why? Both use a dewatering process for the drying treatment of brown coal. MTE technology stems from a Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) initiative now called MTE Research (MTER). For those that don't know, CRCs are basically formal research and development (R&D) partnerships between government, industry and research providers. So with regard to Govt funding these CRC organisations carry a lot of influence and industry direction hence IMO, the main reason why ESI has received so little-ESI has never been a CRC participant. MTER Govt funding (both Fed and State) pales in comparison to that of HRL and Hazelwood whose partially Govt funded figures total 150 million and 80 million respectively.

But moving on….MTER in conjunction with the owners of Loy Yang A, Great Energy Alliance Corporation (GEAC) have developed a 15 ton pilot test plant late last year. Their testing trial commenced last November and will run 4 for months to allow for proven results. There is some talk that from there they will develop a 100 ton scaled up plant (876K pa) again, all taking more time. ESI has stated that the nearest rival in Victoria is 3 years away. IMO I think it is more like 18-24 months.

But let's put things into perspective…
ESI is commercially proven. They are ready to go now and we know they are in discussion as we speak with various industry players and have been for some months. Using the BFS information the largest ESI plant will be 5m tonnes per annum. Operation and performance cost/specs are superior or at least matched. So if you were Mr Victorian Powerstation who do you think you would opt for?

Taking all the above into consideration this was my rationale for previously posting that should ESI do a deal with a powerstation soon then it will most likely be with TruEnergy (Yallourn) or with International Power (Hazelwood and Loy Yang B) because GEAC are fully committed to MTE technology at Loy Yang A. After reading this I hope some pennies are starting to drop now....

Yallourn in question is the one powerstation that is somewhat lagging behind and is also yet to publicly ann its technical or clean coal direction. The previous MD Danny Mills who received a nice option package when leaving ESI recently, worked for Yallourn Energy as well as Mr La Trobe Valley John Hutchinson so you would think a relationship between ESI and TruEnergy is somewhat 'rosy'.

With regard to International Power and Hazelwood, coldry pellets have already been tested there with no hiccups-say no more.

If their first deal isn't with a powerstation then IMO look for the words GEOSTAR or its subsidiary VCR.

By the way, ESI SP performed extremely well last week. 'Suspiciously' too well. To put things into perspective as of Friday 18th the market has slumped an unprecedented 10 days straight and now represents the longest losing run in 26 years but for some reason ESI is still hovering around the 10.5-11 cent mark with reasonably good buying support. That's pretty big pressure in the market at the moment and it's suspicious for a stock to buck this trend. Early last week it looked like the 10 cent buy level would be taken out but we saw the very next day immediate buy support convincingly fill the gap. And, bear in mind with February soon upon us we could be looking at only a matter of weeks before ESI ann a significant contract.

There is a lot happening in Victoria so plenty of research is needed just to understand all the different players and their respective technology and progress.

Cheers to those who buy and hold, and DYOR