April 6, 2019 - The head of U.S. operations for a company that turns coal waste into energy will be speaking at the Southern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce monthly membership luncheon next Tuesday about a project in Corbin, Kentucky that will provide numerous good-paying jobs.

C.K. Lane, with Arq will be the featured speaker at the luncheon, which will begin at 11:45 a.m. at The Corbin Center.

Arq, which is based in the United Kingdom, specializes in taking coal “microfines” and turning them into relatively clean fuel oil.

Bird’s eye view of the ARQ facility, currently under construction at the old U.S. Steel site in Corbin, Kentucky.

The company’s website (www.arq.com) claims it uses “advanced chemistry” and “cutting edge technology and scientific rigour” to produce energy from coal waste. The microfines recovered for use in the process are stored in large retention ponds located on the site of its Corbin facility — the old U.S. Steel property.

ARQ claims that over one billion tons of coal waste is discarded each year, which is the equivalent of “throwing away over 5 billion barrels of oil a day.”

“Coal is the cheapest and most readily available energy source on earth. It’s also the dirtiest. While natural gas and oil are 99.9 percent pure when used, coal is often only 60-70 percent hydrocarbon — the rest being water and mineral matter. This impurity means oil has consistently been valued at three to nine times higher (based on a unit of energy) than coal for the past 15 years,” the ARQ website says. “Our ability to close the difference in the value of a unit of energy produced by coal compared to gas or oil is the greatest financial opportunity in today’s energy market — worth a staggering $2 trillion per annum to the industry. What’s even better, is that we can achieve this while helping to clean up a major environmental problem.”

Prior to Arq, Lane was Managing Member of CKL Consulting, LLC serving the mining and energy industry. He has over 34 years’ experience in mining, ranging from hourly employee to COO and Senior VP managing 2,400 employees. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and former West Virginia Mine Foreman.

Lane is a past chairman of the Society of Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, Central Appalachian Section, past chairman of the Kentucky Coal Association and a member of the King Coal Club and Old Timers Club. CK graduated summa cum laude with a BSc in Mining Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He was awarded the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) Old Timers Award in 1982.

The Southern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce monthly membership luncheon is open to the public. Cost of lunch is $12. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP as soon as possible by email at info@southernkychamber.com or by calling 606-528-6390.