re: alternative to gdy..chart Minotaurs' experienced directors...

re: alternative to gdy..chart Minotaurs' experienced directors have had a good look at this project and like it.

This from..Mr Carter, who is Managing Director of Minotaur also:

"The requirement in Australia for power from renewable energy sources will only increase as demonstrated by the Government's Mandatory Renewable Energy Targets and their Renewable Energy Certificates scheme," Petratherm's Chairman, Mr Derek Carter, said today.

"HR is one of the few renewable energy sources able to provide much needed base-load power without major environmental impact and Petratherm is seeking to exploit this opportunity through developing HR energy at shallower depth and lower cost," Mr Carter said.

Significantly, one of the flagship tenements being acquired by Petratherm is just north of the world's biggest copper and uranium mine, at Olympic Dam in South Australia.

Mr Carter said Petratherm believed commercialisation of HR energy from this acreage could provide base-load electricity to Olympic Dam and other emergent mining projects in the region, including Minotaur's highly prospective Prominent Hill copper-gold project.

Development strategy

"Petratherm is focused on choosing HR targets at economically manageable depths, favourably located to potential markets," Mr Carter said.

"We have acquired ground near potential markets where substantial power is or will be required.

"Our aim is to establish commercially sustainable, emission-free, renewable energy for power generation by identifying and developing hot geothermal source rocks at temperatures in excess of 200°C but no deeper than 3.5 kilometres.

"This compares to current HR projects which generally are at depths beyond four or five kilometres at consequential higher exploration drilling and development cost.

"Petratherm's modelling suggests that a block of granite one kilometre thick over a 25 square kilometre area, and having an initial temperature of 270°C, can support the generation of 1,000 megawatts of emission-free electricity over a 25-year period.

"Even for a conventional mid-sized power station of 300 megawatts, Petratherm's modelling suggests that HR-based power can be produced at a cost comparable to that of gas - about $40 per megawatt hour."

Mr Carter said these cost parameters potentially equate to or undercut average coal-fired production costs, presently the cheapest form of electricity production in Australia.

Tenements

Petratherm's three projects - at Ferguson Hill north of Olympic Dam, and Callabonna and Paralana near Mount Painter - cover 1,500 square kilometres and lie within a geothermal energy province known as the South Australian Heat Flow Anomaly.

The tenements are thought to contain hot rocks at depths of between three and 3.5 kilometres, significantly shallower than historic geothermal wells where drilling, development and production costs rise dramatically beyond 3.5 kilometre depth.

The Company's identified targets within the Anomaly contain granitic rocks yielding temperatures 8-25 times the heat of most granites - making it one of the most thermally active hot rock zones in the world. Additionally, the Company has identified buried potential radiogenic iron oxide deposits with high heat generating potential.

The Callabonna and Paralana targets are also within 170 kilometres of South Australia's main electricity grid at Leigh Creek while Ferguson Hill lies only 70 kilometres from Olympic Dam.

Five stage development

Petratherm, through the University's commercial development arm, Adelaide Research and Innovation Pty Ltd, has developed low cost techniques to test the heat potential of granitic and hydrothermal iron oxide rocks without the need to drill deeply into them.

Petratherm plans to initially employ the technique over the next two years to discover an economic geothermal hot rock source as part of a longer-term five-stage development program.

Stages One and Two, already underway, are to assess the limits of the hot rocks with 600 - 750 metre shallow wells to remotely test temperatures, stress environment and fracturing characteristics, to determine a prospect's ability to sustain economic geothermal energy through heat exchange.

Stage Three will involve completion of test wells into source rocks using slim-line drilling, and evaluation of thermal reservoirs.

Stage Four will see the completion of injection and production holes and the establishment of a heat exchange system.

Under this system, water is passed under pressure through the rocks and heated and then returned to the surface to "off-the-shelf" geothermal power plants.

Heat extracted from the water at this point, in turn heats low boiling point liquids, which when boiled, produce high pressure steam used to drive electricity turbines. The cooled water is then re-injected back down the injection borehole to be reheated and used again.

The proposed final development phase, Stage Five, requires additional drilling on a grid spacing to establish a commercial power plant.

Mr Carter said that once a field was in commercial operation, a second system of wells would be developed adjacent the first. This would allow alternation every 15 years or so between each field so that as one field cooled during production, the other would be reheating while off line - creating a potentially ever-lasting, renewable energy source.

He said the Company's modelling suggested Petratherm could achieve reductions of 10-20% in production costs through its exploration and production approach.

Resources-based expertise on Petratherm Board

Petratherm has also assembled a highly experienced board to drive its hot rock energy vision, with Directors drawn from Australia's resources sector, including Minotaur, the energy industry and the University of Adelaide.

Joining Mr Carter, who is Managing Director of Minotaur and a Director of Mithril Resources Ltd, are:

Mr Peter Reid, Chief Executive Officer, and who is a senior geologist with Minotaur involved with the development of the Prominent Hill copper/gold project;
Crustal stress expert, Professor Richard Hillis from the University of Adelaide, a non-Executive Director who is leading the research team;
Dr Lloyd Taylor, a non-Executive Director with 27 years geological and geophysical management experience in energy exploration and production, including periods with Woodside Petroleum, Shell International, Santos and Fletcher Challenge;
Non-Executive Director, Mr Richard Bonython, who has more than 40 years experience in the building, construction, rural and mining exploration industries; and
Adelaide legal practitioner and non-Executive Director, Mr Simon O'Loughlin, a 25-year veteran in the mining industry, particularly company structuring and listings.