Subject to various conditions of the agreement, Archean’s $2 million investment will be exchanged for 6.7% of Clean Coal’s outstanding shares.

As the JV aims to develop Pristine M within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Clean Coal chief executive Robin Eves pointed to Archean’s experience in the region as an important advantage.

“At present, AGPL owns about 800 million tons of coal assets in Indonesia and last year exported 2.5 million tons to China and 1.5 million tons to India,” he said.

“With this partnership, we bring in a tremendous amount of entrepreneurial talent that will benefit AGPL and CCTI as together we develop the market for dry coal in the dynamic ASEAN region.”

With finalization of the contract, Archean will construct a 1:10-scale pilot plant in Oklahoma, which Eves anticipates will be underway in the immediate future.

“The result is that CCTI will have a larger stake in the ASEAN region joint venture, two commercial projects in Indonesia immediately to follow the successful deployment of the pilot plant, two royalty-paying clients and license fees totaling $2.75 million, up from $US1.5 million, prior to the AGPL transaction,” he said.

The companies expect to balance ownership at 55% for Archean and CCTI at 45%.