Whilst we mark time for the "Olympic Arrow" (my favourite...

Whilst we mark time for the "Olympic Arrow" (my favourite amongst all the recent ignition suggestions) I have been mulling how Cougar might evolve as it becomes evident that the Kingaroy pre-production burn has met or exceeded all expectations.

Hits on my google alerts relating to UCG have gone from 1-3/wk to 3-10 most days over the last three yrs. The articles are from the US, the UK, South Africa, India, Pakistan, New Zealand and Australia that I recall. It surely isn't stretching it to see that as solid and growing global interest in UCG.

The well know trial burns at Chinchilla Australia (involving Cougar and Ergo Principals), Hoe Crk in the US (involving a CNX Principal I think) and in Spain (involving a Principal of CGV I think) were something like 7-12 yrs ago.

Since then there has been the little reported but ongoing Majuba trial burn for Eskom in South Africa (Ergo). The two most recent trial burns have been LNC at Chinchlla (ongoing) and CNX at Bloodwood Crk (ongoing). I am not aware of any other recent or ongoing trials. Imo, it is fair to say the above recent burns have been viewed as creditable rather than breakthrough successes. In the case of LNC and CNX, share price highs give an indication of future performance when success is at least perceived by the market.

In a drawn bow (and all a quivver lol) is Cougar and I believe there are trials planned for Solid Energy in NZ (Ergo) and for Laurus Energy (Ergo) later this year.

So, what doors might open for Cougar if Kingaroy is the most successful burn since 1999-2002 Chinchilla (Walker, Blinderman)? What further doors might open if the current burn surpasses the previous one in efficiency, quality, consistency and contollability?

One hopes it may influence the Qld Govt's views on UCG in Qld ... and be the incentive to flush out more definitive funding deals for Kingaory Stage 1, subject to UCG approval by the Qld Govt ... and the trigger to fast track Wandoan expanded JORC and commercialisation options such as powergen and methanation ... and the pre-requisite for converting MOU's in China/Mongolia and Victoria from office desks to field actions ... and even create the critical interest to support an IPO in London for Cougar UK, then breathing life into its projects in Pakistan and India.

Kingaroy and Wandoan are being furthered for commercial success based on target seam thicknesses of about 7-12m I recall ... thick enough to drive a double decker bus or the biggest B-double through with room to spare.

A mate of mine has been involved in two reasonably recent coal exploration campaigns in Mongolia and assures me there are seams of >100m thickness in the depth ranges accessible to UCG. I recall reading in previous announcements that seam thicknesses in Cougar's prospects in Victoria are up to 100-200m. Many of the tallest ships in the world could not pass through a vertical space of 100m and a few would struggle with 200m.

The resource realativities between Kingaroy/Wandoan and potentially China/Mongolia/Victoria are pretty stark. The amazing thing about Victoria is the proximity to a target market of syngas powergen in the La Trobe valley and proximity to interstate pipelines if methanation is a possibility. I suspect there may be some not insurmaountable resource isolation issues in Mongolia.

Methinks there is a bit riding on Kingaroy and many eyes watching.

Cheers
Dex