CEFA Signs 15-year contract with WA Kaolin

Clean Energy Fuels Australia (CEFA) has secured a 15-year contract with WA Kaolin to supply liquefied natural gas from its Mid-West LNG Hub, located at Mount Magnet, to the company’s Wickepin Project located 600km to the south of Mt Magnet.

The contract is valued at $22m and will commence in January 2022.

WA Kaolin will be the second customer supplied from the Mid-West LNG Hub after Silver Lakes Resources’ Deflector Gold Mine was confirmed by CEFA in January this year.

CEFA, with the backing of global infrastructure fund I Squared Capital (ISQ), is developing an Energy Transition Platform focused on reducing the carbon footprint of energy intensive industries in Australia.

The platform, which is expected to invest up to $500 million on assets providing low-carbon and renewable solutions, has its initial focus in the Western Australia mining sector, which currently consumes 4.8 billion litres of diesel per year to meet its power generation and locomotive needs.

The Mid-West LNG Hub is the first building block in the Energy Transition Platform. Phased modular construction of the Mid-West LNG Hub facility is underway and first LNG deliveries are expected to commence during the third quarter of 2021.

“It is fantastic to welcome WA Kaolin as a Mid-West LNG Hub customer and we look forward to supporting them as they work towards achieving their production targets,” said CEFA GM Commercial, Romano Bernhard.

CEFA’s Mid-West LNG Hub is planned to have a capacity of up to 100,000 tonnes per annum and we are excited to see the intent from the regional mining community to adopt LNG as a lower emission fuel.

WA Kaolin CEO Andrew Sorensen said his company was thrilled to sign the contract with CEFA.

“As we continue to progress our Stage 1 work program towards our target to be producing by year end 2021, it is vital for our development program that we lock in such important long term supplier agreements like this,” he said.