New-York based Clean Coal Technologies, Inc., announced today that it has secured $80 million to build two “moderately-sized” plants in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming.
“As a direct result of the support of the people of Gillette and Cheyenne, I’m announcing today a consortium of investments through the newly-established company which is called Wyoming New Energy Corp. … to build our first plants in Wyoming. We are quite excited about this,” Robin Eves, CEO of Clean Coal Technologies, Inc., told a crowd gathered in Sheridan for the annual Wyoming Mining Association meeting Thursday.
Eves said his company is extremely interested in the Powder River Basin, and that the $80 million project has to be put in context with other development in the area. Clean Coal will also move its Tulsa, Okla., test facility to Wyoming, and plans to build commercial parks in the Gillette area as well.
A group of undisclosed investors and major U.S. bank have committed financing to build the two million-tons of capacity Clean Coal Technology plants in Wyoming, Eves said. Commercial design and engineering of the first plant will begin in September or October, which will trigger license fees and financing.
“It is a big deal, because this will create a lot of jobs, not just on the manufacturing and construction side, but down the road once the plant is employed, it will create mining jobs, jobs in the ports,” Eves said. “That will be closely followed by the construction of commercial parks. We believe that this will create jobs here, and economic growth to the community.”
The location of the plants is under review, but three places near Gillette are under consideration. Eves said he hopes construction will begin late this year.
Clean Coal Technologies, Inc., says its products are “significantly more efficient, higher BTU, less polluting, more cost-effective … (than) untreated coal.”
Eves said that he has seen a tremendous excitement and resurgence in coal across the world in the past year.
“Coal is alive and well. It really is. Production is up, prices are climbing, demand is up,” he said. “We believe the sustainability of coal, especially here in the United States, is directly tied to technology.”
Clean Coal Technologies is an emerging growth company commercializing proprietary, patented technologies to convert raw coal into a cleaner, more efficient fuel source. Clean Coal also plans to move its pilot plant, currently based in Oklahoma, to Gillette this fall.
The 62nd Annual Wyoming Mining Association Convention began Wednesday and ends Friday. Speakers included Eves, President and CEO of Cloud Peak Energy Colin Marshall, Wyoming state senators Eli Bebout and Drew Perkins and others.
