dave. tec and roo, page-17

In the Latrobe Valley, Victoria, (the worlds 2nd biggest brown coal reserves) brown coal costs less than $5 to extract. The major drawback with raw brown coal is that it cant be transported long distances due to its high moisture content. However, with new drying technologies such as WEC's and ESI's, brown coal can now be transported long distances.

This is the main reason why bron coal sells so cheap.

In ESI's case, total costs to convert brown coal to black coal equivalent is around $20. ESI expects to sell the finished product for around $70/tonne.

I wonder what implications this will have on the black coal industry once they start full production? Probably no impact.