Solid Energy's Southland land holdings under review
By Pattrick Smellie
Aug. 31 (BusinessDesk) - Solid Energy will review its massive land holdings in Southland as part of decisions due by the
end of the year on its plans to develop new industries from lignite, a low grade coal the state-owned coal miner says
could be used to make fertiliser and diesel.
Outgoing chairman John Palmer told a media briefing in Wellington the company will look to sell land it doesn't need
once it settles on the size and scope of its controversial plans.
"We have for some time been looking to see what options we have in relation to land holdings to cash out some of those,"
said Palmer. He was announcing writedowns of $151.7 million on underground coal mines and experiments in renewable
energy that produced a $40.2 million loss in the year to June 30 and prompted restructuring that could cost 370 jobs
above and below ground.
The company spent about $70 million in the mid-2000's buying up mainly farmland in eastern Southland, where it now owns
more than 3,000 hectares sitting atop lignite reserves of around 1.35 billion tonnes.
Solid Energy believes the deposits could be worth billions of dollars in exports and import replacement, but the
Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has slammed the proposed processes for their high output of greenhouse
gases.
However, Solid Energy reaffirmed its lignite intentions this week as part of what chief executive Don Elder described as
a "refined" strategy that will concentrate on opencast mining and developing underground coal seam gas extraction and
lignite conversion industries.
The company has yet to commit capital to either initiative, but is expecting to consider plans for lignite development
by the end of the year.
The decisions come as the company faces pressure to prepare itself for partial privatisation.
Also associated with the land, much of it currently dairy farms, is a substantial shareholding in Fonterra.
Shares in the dairy cooperative are valued in Solid Energy's books at $4.25 million, representing another asset the
company could realise to shore up its balance sheet.
Investment analysts have been critical in the past of Solid Energy's "land banking" for access to the lignite resource.
Palmer said the farmland review was "something to be actioned this financial year."
Asked whether it could make a material contribution to Solid Energy's balance sheet woes, he said: "It could be
significant, but a lot of it depends on the operating footprint that we think we would make. We can't make those
decisions just yet."
(BusinessDesk)