White Energy chief executive Greg Sheahan told the company's annual general meeting that extensive testing by River Energy, including successful briquetting and combustion trials, demonstrated that a saleable export-grade coal product could be produced from South African reject tailings.
"Under arrangement with River Energy South Africa we have agreed to supply a small briquette machine to River Energy's trial briquetting project in Johannesburg for a monthly rental fee of $4750," he said.
"The machine is in transit to South Africa.
"If the trial briquetting project is successful RESA may then move into phase two, being the development and commissioning of a commercial plant."
Shehan said this would provide opportunities for the company to benefit from the deployment of further briquetting machines and its patented technology to derive a royalty stream.
The BCB process provides a solution for coal producers seeking to maximise mine yield together with addressing the environmental challenges posed by reject coal fines.
It is estimated that there are more than 1 billion tonnes of discarded coal in tailings facilities in South Africa alone and much of that may eventually need to be reclaimed.
