Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, a proponent of coal-to-liquids projects, joined tribal leaders of the Crow Nation as well as executives from Australian-American Energy Company (AAEC) in announcing that the tribe and company have formed a partnership to move forward on a coal-to-liquid facility and a new mine to be located on the Crow Reservation in Montana. The project mine will be the first new coal mine in Montana in three decades.
The project, called Many Stars, is initially targeted to convert 38,000 tons of coal per day into 50,000 barrels per day of synthetic diesel, jet fuel and naphtha. Startup is expected in 2016. Crow Chairman Carl Venne noted that future plans with AAEC include expanding the CTL plant production capacity to 125,000 barrels per day.
The Crow Nation has over 10 billion tons of coal resources. We made a decision to pursue this type of clean-coal project because it provides long-term economic and social benefits for our people for many generations to come. The Many Stars Project will help us become self-sufficient.
—Crow Chairman Carl VenneAllan Blood, chairman of AAEC and also chairman of AAEC parent Australian Energy Company Limited (AEC), said that the project design calls for capturing CO2 for geo-sequestration and supply to enhanced-oil recovery projects.
Under terms of the agreement, the Crow Nation has committed coal and water resources for the project while AAEC will provide the development capital and project management. Both the Crow Nation, through its company Apsáalooke Energy Company LLC, and AAEC will participate in the board of directors of the project company.
The documents the Crow Nation and AAEC signed today include an exploration agreement under which AAEC will spend 12 to 18 months to further evaluate the coal resources and select a final site for the mine and plant. AAEC has already completed its initial feasibility study for the coal-to-liquid fuels project and will begin the environmental permitting process later this year. Construction is expected to begin in 2012.
Australian Energy Company Limited, headquartered near Perth, Australia, was the original developer of the APEL (now Monash) CTL Project in Victoria, Australia and is currently developing a $2 billion clean-coal conversion project, the Latrobe Valley Urea Project, also in Victoria.
Governor Schweitzer was introduced to AAEC at an international coal-to-liquids conference in New York during the summer of 2007 and invited the company to more closely assess Montana’s abundant resources. His administration has worked closely with both the Crow Nation and the company in helping make this project a reality.
The partnership between the tribe and the company has been in the making for nearly a year. The Crow Reservation was chosen for the project because of the abundant coal resources that tribal leadership is willing to develop.
The economic impact of this project cannot be overstated.
—Carl Venne-------------
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