The project aims to use White’s coal upgrade technology at Mongolyn’s lignite deposit at Aduunchuluun, located near the Chinese border in eastern Mongolia.
White said the deposit has 220 million tonnes of measured lignite, with the potential to ramp-up to more than 400Mt.
To further test the effectiveness of White’s patented binderless coal-briquetting process, Mongolyn is making preparations to send 500 tonnes of coal from the Aduunchuluun deposit to White’s 90,000t-per hour plant at Cessnock in New South Wales.
White said the process significantly advanced the energy efficiency of Mongolyn’s feedstock coal in previous sample work.
The Sydney-based company said the feasibility study will focus on one coal-upgrading plant with a 1Mt-per annum capacity, but this target level of output could be expanded.
All parties are in negotiations with the commercial terms of the venture and White expects an agreement by the time the feasibility work is complete.
“We are pleased to have signed this development agreement with MAK and IB Daiwa. Mongolia is ideally situated to play a key strategic role in providing coal for the key markets in North Asia, particularly China,” White Energy managing director John Atkinson said.
“Mongolyn has access to significant coal resources in Mongolia, which, in preliminary testing, has been shown to be ideal for upgrading by White Energy’s unique binderless coal-briquetting process.”
Mongolyn president and chief executive officer Byambaa Nyamtaishir said White’s coal-upgrading process is the most suitable process to maximise the value of its high-moisture coal deposits in Mongolia.
