heathgate in the news

Article in today's Advertiser.
Neal Blue getting chummy with Mike Rann has to be good for Alliance - Heathgate relations.


GREG KELTON

August 18, 2009 12:01am

THE U.S. parent company of uranium producer Heathgate Resources has held talks with the State Government over developing a renewable energy fuel in South Australia - from algae.

Premier Mike Rann met for an hour yesterday with Neal Blue, the chief executive officer of General Atomics, which owns the Beverley uranium deposits in SA's Far North.

Mr Rann said SA was now poised to become a national leader in refining biosynthetic fuels, with the potential to create thousands of jobs.

Mr Blue said his company was interested in developments in microalgal biofuels in SA because there was huge potential for their use in the future – especially in the aviation industry.

Mr Blue said at least one U.S. commercial airline had already tested biofuels in a passenger flight across America. He said SA was highly placed to develop algal fuels because of its high sunlight, brackish water and carbon dioxide.

Mr Rann said algal biofuel was attractive because of its relatively high oil yield and its efficiency in recycling carbon.

"It is estimated that replacing just 10 per cent of Australia's mineral diesel with biodiesel from microalgae would bring about a reduction of nearly 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels," he said.

The Federal Government recently granted $2.7 million to an SA-based consortium to develop a pilot-scale biorefinery for sustainable microalgal biofuels and added products.

The pilot project – run by the Algal Fuels Consortium which includes the SA Research and Development Institute, Flinders University and Sancon Recycling – will be located at Torrens Island.

General Atomics is one of several companies including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Caltex, which are interested in the development.

Mr Rann said biodiesel made from algae was considered by many to be more environmentally acceptable than some past-generation biofuels, such as those made from sugar cane or other food crops.

He said international companies were investing substantial amounts of money in biofuel research and development, with BP investing $500 million two years ago in a University of California project.

Mr Blue said biosynthetic fuels worked, it was now a matter of how cheaply it could be produced, which was where projects like the Algal Fuels Consortium were important. His company was already working on a U.S. Defence Department contract examining synthetic fuel options.

"SARDI have been doing independent work on this so it has been of interest to us to become involved in SA in respect of our own interests in biosynthetic fuels," Mr Blue said.