The company is developing a coal-to-liquids process that it hopes to use to convert its Victorian lignite resources into liquid fuels.

Greenpower has three exploration licenses in the Latrobe Valley, which together hold an inferred JORC resource of 573 million tonnes.

In its update on Friday Greenpower said it had negotiated two exclusive licenses for coal-to-liquid opportunities, one with General Electric and one with the Southern Illinois University.

“One of the projects is a microwave based system invented by General Electric that is focused on production of transport fuels,” Greenpower said.

“A second process developed by the Southern Illinois University transforms coal into a range of chemicals suitable as feedstock in the petrochemical industry.”

Despite having abundant resources, the company said it planned to acquire initial feedstock for both projects from the surrounding mines and government reserves, mining its own licenses in the future.

“The work program for all of our areas is now focused on determining suitability of the coals for conversion using our licensed technologies,” Greenpower said.

Greenpower said core from licenses EL4500 and EL4877 would be run through both processes. A third core drill at EL5227 has been planned and the recovered material will also be tested.

The results of trials being conducted on the area’s coal by GE will be available by the year’s end, with limited trials on coal from Collie, in Western Australia, planned for October.

GE says on its website that following testing: “The next step will be construction of a Process Demonstration Unit for installation at a mine site in Victoria”

According to the ABC, Greenpower confirmed that part of its drilling was planned for private, residential property in the town of Yarragon.