latrobe valley voice, page-2

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A $300 million investment in groundbreaking coal dewatering technology is set to generate up to a thousand jobs for the Valley. The first stage of a black coal equivalent (BCE) plant at Loy Yang Power is due to begin by December 2012. The project is a joint venture agreement between Environmental Clean Technologies (ECT) and Vietnamese investment company TinCom. The company running the project will be entitled Victoria Coldry. It's set to construct a two million tonne per annum BCE production plant, with plans to expand to 20 million tonnes per annum in the next 10 years. The plant will utilise Loy Yang Power coal supply, site and services, and will dewater brown coal from the Loy Yang mine, reducing moisture content from 60 per cent to less than 12 per cent. ECT operations manager Adam Giles said: "Initially, there'll be a couple of hundred jobs in the construction stage, plus around 100 direct jobs and a couple hundred indirect jobs once it's completed. "Assuming we get to our 20 million tonnes a year goal, I can definitely see job numbers getting up to the thousand mark," he said. The joint agreement, signed on Monday (April 4), outlines that TinCom will provide $1.5 million by May 30 for the detailed design phase. ECT will then tailor its design to integrate with Loy Yang Power's systems and site. "After the design phase is completed, we'll be able to put out tender documents. These will give us an accurate price of the plant. Our target to have finance in place and start putting shovels in the dirt is December 2012," said Mr Giles. Mr Giles said the project had been an arduous task, but was delighted with the outcome. "High cost and long lead time projects like this are very complex, and it can be difficult to work across cultures and borders, but we're very happy with our Vietnam partner's efforts," he said. "It's very exciting to bring a worldfirst technology to development in the Valley." Loy Yang Power chief executive Ian Nethercote told The Voice that the Coldry project was a step in the right direction for Latrobe Valley brown coal. Mr Nethercote welcomed the international support for the project, which provides for the potential expanded use of brown coal into the future.