Australia's Environmental Clean Technologies Ltd. (ETC) has signed a multi-million dollar deal with Vietnam's Thang Long Investment and Commercial Joint Stock Company (TinCom) to export processed brown coal to Vietnam.

According to Melbourne-based technology company, the deal enables ECT and TinCom’s joint venture Victoria Coldry Pty Ltd. to export 2 million tons of Coldry pellets a year from early 2014, expanding up to 20 million tons a year in its first decade of operations.

Under the agreement, ETC will provide a license for its technology to enable brown coal to be transformed into environmentally cleaner black coal equivalent pellets.

Meanwhile, TinCom will provide US$100 million in first stage equity finance, representing one of the largest investments by Vietnam in Australia.

ECT and its Vietnamese partner plan to build a processing plant in the Australian state of Victoria's Latrobe Valley. The Coldry plant is expected to be fully operational by late 2013 or early 2014.

The deal was formalized Friday as part of a visit to Australia by Vietnam's Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc to co-chair the 9th Australia-Vietnam Joint Trade and Economic Cooperation Committee with Australia's Trade Minister Simon Crean in Melbourne.

"It is about Australian technology being used to deliver a more environmentally sensitive energy solution to the people of Vietnam – a small but important contribution to the global effort to reduce carbon emissions," Crean said Friday.

"Vietnam is buying the Australian resource but also, importantly, investing in the Australian technology to lower the carbon footprint," he added.

According to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, two-way trade value between Australia and Vietnam in 2009 was AUD6 billion.

Source:tuoitrenews