ISO accreditation and Expansion Plans
Clean Invest Africa plc
(“CIA” or the “Company”)
CoalTech achieves ISO accreditation and is seeking to advance international expansion, including in particular, in Eastern Europe.
Clean Invest Africa Plc (NEX:CIA), the NEX Exchange quoted clean technology and renewable energy investment company, is pleased to provide the following update on the activities of its subsidiary CoalTech Group (“CoalTech”), acquired in July 2019.
- CoalTech has achieved 3 major ISO accreditations; and
- CoalTech has commenced initial activities for international expansion, focused on Eastern Europe
- CoalTech is continuing to pursue further expansion opportunities in South Africa
CoalTech has now formally achieved the following ISO accreditations:
? ISO 9001:2015 – QHSE Integrated Management System;
? ISO 14001:2015 – Environmental Management System; and
? ISO 45001:2018 – Occupational Health and Safety Management System
CoalTech has developed a revolutionary and innovative agglomeration solution that converts coal fines waste (also known as “fines”, “coal fines” or “coal dust”) into combustible coal pellets via a proprietary technology using a specially formulated organic binder and a customized process.
There are billions of tonnes of toxic coal fines laid waste around the globe at mining sites and at coal shipment sites. Without a viable permanent fix to date, these polluting coal fines have been a matter of high cost for the coal industry and serious environmental concern for government authorities. The industry has spent decades and substantial funds unsuccessfully seeking a remediation solution.
CoalTech technology provides a cost effective solution that is a game changer in the long-awaited quest to address this global and industry wide problem. Using CoalTech technology it is possible to commence this remediation in a process that could be amongst the worlds largest scale toxic clean up operations ever. Being ISO accredited is invaluable for such large scale projects.
CoalTech plans an international rollout of its technology in cooperation with the industry to clean up coal fines and reduce their environmental impacts in an economical manner. Being ISO accredited enables the company’s process to fit seamlessly within those of large scale mining organisations and ensure compliance and compatibility as it deals with coal fines.
For mining companies, coal fines are production losses, comprising overall increased inefficiencies, and require substantial storage space and high maintenance costs, as well as substantial end of life financial commitments. Coal fines pose considerable environmental challenges such as dust release, acid drainage and spontaneous combustion.
Waste and discarded coal fines are of very low market value if not merely a liability due to high volatilities, high surface moisture content and the heterogeneous properties of the fines. They are generally disposed of in stockpiles, slag heaps or open-air slurry lagoons at or near mining sites. Vast quantities of coal dust is also available at loading and unloading terminals around the world. These are amongst the largest toxic land based accumulations on earth.
Coal fines when processed by CoalTech ‘s technology create valuable combustible coal pellets that have the same calorific value (heat value) as coal being mined and sold from a specific mine and can be relatively seamlessly added to a mines output supply chain. A typical CoalTech plant can produce in the region of 30,000 tonnes of coal pellets monthly. Coal prices vary between according to quality and geography and for example can range between $40 and $150 per tonne.
The reprocessing of these fines using CoalTech technology provides commercial benefits to the various stakeholders including the mines, governments, industrial customers and investors while offsetting the negative environmental implications and creating, new job opportunities. Being ISO accredited is a significant enhancement to the credibility of the CoalTech business and its operations.
CoalTech has developed its proprietary technology over almost a decade, has an operational producing and testing plant in Witbank, Province of Mpumalanga, South Africa. This plant started commercial operations in November 2018. The plant is profitable and likely shortly be at full capacity and generating revenues on target margins based on a net monthly volume of 5,000 tonnes. The only variable to such production is downtime when testing coal fines from other mines, other than the one used for commercial operation, where discussions for future plant developments are advanced. Operations at this plant are conducted in compliance with ISO accredited process and procedures.
CoalTech has recently undertaken several trials for sample production for potential customers globally. For example the most recent trial completed in July 2019 was for one of the leaders in the mining industry based in eastern European. Should that trial be successful it is expected that Coaltech will enter into discussions to co-build a large scale coal fine recovery plant in Eastern Europe.
In addition Coaltech is currently in negotiations to set up additional operations in various key global markets, including Poland, Russia, Italy, Indonesia and USA. It proposes to do so by seeking to establish appropriate joint ventures (whether industry experts, mine operators, industrial consumers, financiers or other local partners. Should these negotiations be successful in any market they will significantly enhance Coaltech’s sales and market in country and potentially its access to project financing. Further updates on these negotiations will be announced as appropriate.
CoalTech is continuing to pursue further expansion opportunities in its South Africa market and is in preliminary discussions in South Africa with potential customers after concluding successful trials. Further updates will be provided should the talks advance.
The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.
ENQUIRIES:
Company
Clean Invest Africa PLC
Noel Lyons/Paul Ryan
Telephone: +44 7912 514 809/ +32 475 754 148
Corporate Adviser
Peterhouse Capital Limited
Guy Miller/Mark Anwyl
Telephone: 020 7220 9795
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