Licensee Agenco Resources Pty Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nasaco Holdings Pty Ltd. The company is focussed on the development of a very large buried Tertiary lignite resource located near Kingston in the South-East district of South Australia. The lignite deposit was discovered by Western Mining Corp. in 1979, and since then has been the subject of several studies, including for dry mining and dredging of large amounts of lignite as fuel for power generation projects, and dry mining for conversion to gas and petroleum liquids. Now Agenco have considered an alternative, smaller market, to supply lignite for conversion to humic and fulvic acids for the manufacture of biological fertilisers. Spent lignite, i.e. biochar is also considered to be a useful fertiliser for direct application to soils, and is often mixed with microbes to improve soil condition. Kingston is well placed to act as a supply centre for providing bulk fertilisers into South Australian and neighbouring agricultural districts. Some potential for the export of high value fertiliser products is also possible. During the first licence year, activities included the creation of a relational database of corrected basic drillhole data such as stratigraphy, seam depths, lignite chemistry and geotechnical parameters. This database was then used to determine optimum sites for a borehole jetting lignite extraction process to obtain material useful for fertiliser production. The seam jetting methodology does not interfere with aquifers or surface water bodies in the area, and requires a significantly smaller surface footprint than would conventional open pit mining. Other activities included the development of a financial and production process model to confirm economical rates of lignite extraction and to determine project risks and sensitivities. A proof of concept trial hole was proposed. During licence Year 2, Agenco consolidated past hydrogeological data obtained over the deposit, and pursued an economic model for the extraction, transport and processing of humic acids. A lignite sample was analysed for percentage humic and fulvic acid as a key input to the model. Results were: • Moisture (as received): 42.6%. • Humic acid (as received): 13.5 to 19.1%. • Humic and Fulvic Acid (ash free): 24% and 3.9% respectively. These results were considered to be encouraging, so the company proceeded with applications to obtain access to freehold land and to gain relevant government approvals for its planned field work. A significant part of Year 2 was spent on compiling economic parameters for the project. These were: • The mass of extractable and recoverable lignite per hole (for selected trial sites). • Capital and operating costs for the extraction and on-site processing equipment. • Site preparation and rehabilitation costs. • Lignite/ humic acid transport costs. • Humic acid processing costs. • Process timing. During licence Year 3, Agenco made a technical presentation to the Department for Energy and Mining, that included explaining its business model for fertilizer production, and showing the intended design of the first exploration borehole and associated water monitoring borehole. Later on the company reviewed reports about coal gasification studies which had been done in the past, and considered the potential of the lignite deposit to produce commercial hydrogen. Subsequently, due to what were judged as being adverse technical and commercial factors, the envisaged lignite development project was terminated, and the exploration licence was fully surrendered.