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Solid Energy, which owns millions of tonnes of coal reserves in the Mataura Valley, is currently investigating the development of a new lignite processing plant, which would be the first of its type in New Zealand. This is a scoping study into the practicability of manufacturing industrial briquettes from lignite mined at its New Vale plant, west of the town of Gore. Eammon Conaghan, communications manager for Solid Energy, says his company his looking at two possible options for the venture. One is the existing plant of the former Carter Holt Harvey paper mill in Mataura (not far from New Vale). The Mataura plant has been mothballed for some time, but still has boilers and other equipment that could be used in manufacturing briquettes. The other possible option would be to build a small processing plant at the New Vale mine. According to Conaghan, the study will not be completed for several months. Once completed and if a site was chosen, Solid Energy would carry out a programme of public consultation. And Conaghan is cautious over Solid Energy’s commitment, and says the company has to be convinced as to the financial viability of the project and this would include identifying an assured market for industrial briquettes at a satisfactory price. He says that if Solid Energy decides to proceed with the project it would begin with a pilot scheme, based at either of the two present available options. This would not be in any way linked to the significant coal reserves in the Mataura Valley, also owned by Solid Energy. Conaghan confirms Solid Energy has already had preliminary discussions with Carter Holt Harvey over the Mataura plant and with Keith Hovell, the Gore District Council’s planning consultant. In either case, the pilot scheme would probably create 10 new jobs initially in the Gore/Mataura Region. According to Keith Hovell, if Solid Energy decided on the Mataura plant it would have a site that was already zoned industrial on the Gore District Plan. In that case the company would have only to apply for resource consents relating to air discharges. At New Vale, the other option, some of the company’s land is zoned industrial on the district plan with the rest rural zoned rural. If the company decided to build a plant on the land zoned rural, it would be obliged to apply to the Gore District Council for a land use consent. Lignite deposits are found over large areas of South Otago and Eastern Southland. It is a coal that is often the youngest type of coal and is again, often referred to as “brown coal.” Even now, there is no universally accepted definition of lignite and this means definitions differ from country to country. However, lignite coal usually has a high moisture content of between 35 to 70 percent and a high oxygen content compared with bituminous coals. New Zealand lignites have favourably low ash and sulphur in comparison with lignites in other countries. By Peter Owen
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