lnc news today. sp flying, page-16

This was a story in the Australian back in March

LINC Energy says it hopes to secure investment from a Chinese entity within weeks, as fresh interest emerges in an auction of billion-dollar Australian coal assets.

Linc hopes to build its next commercial underground coal gasification (UCG) project in China with assistance from the unnamed Chinese investor, chief executive Peter Bond said.

UCG is being investigated by several international energy companies because it could tap enormous, otherwise inaccessible, coal reserves and slow the speed of climate change. The process involves burning the coal where it lies deep underground, then extracting the gases produced.

Mr Bond said the investment probably would not be as high as 10-20 per cent.

"It'll be a relatively small stake," Mr Bond said.

"But I think in the scheme of things it will be significant to the commercialisation of UCG and gas-to-liquids.

"And it'll be a significant revaluation of some of the assets within the group, including the UCG technology."

Mr Bond said the China deal was expected to be completed this quarter. Linc, which has a market value of $643 million, wants to produce liquid transport fuels such as petrol and jet fuel from coal by employing UCG and gas-to-liquids technology. It already has an operational UCG facility in Uzbekistan, which feeds a power plant, and has built a GTL demonstration plant in Queensland.