By Matt Chambers

August 15, 2017 - The Australian black thermal coal industry plans to pump ­another $255 million into cleaner coal research and development by extending finance to its Coal21 fund for another decade.

Coal21, set up by the Australian Coal Association (since merged into the Minerals Council of Australia) in 2006, has to date invested $300 million into cleaner coal projects, including carbon capture and sequestration.

It has leveraged this into a further $550 million from other ­sources, including federal ­government, state governments and industry.

“The next 10 years offers many opportunities to build on our achievements and to further solidify the place of coal in Australia as both a strategic export and underpinning domestic energy supply,” said Coal21 chairman David Moult, who sits on the board of Centennial Coal and, until April, was the Thai-owned miner’s managing director.

The fund is financed by a levy on coal production at Australia’s thermal coal mines, including those owned by Glencore, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Peabody Energy. The extended funding for ­another decade comes amid fierce debate over coal’s role in the nation’s power supply in the wake of Chief Scientist Alan ­Finkel’s recommendation a clean energy target be installed.

The Minerals Council of ­Australia says new high-­efficiency, low-emissions coal-fired power plants can help deliver reliable, affordable, lower-emissions power if coal is not penalised by where the ­target is set.

Coal21 investments so far have included carbon-capture at Queensland Callide power plant and carbon storage in Victoria’s Otway Basin.

The fund’s future focus ­includes a CCS hub development in Queensland’s Surat Basin and abatement of fugitive emissions from coal mines.