Greenvale Energy is making progress in its drive to become a bitumen supplier from its Alpha torbanite project, with the latest testwork yielding positive results.

The company reported today that The University of Jordan had successfully completed Liquefaction Test Program 5 on core samples from the project.

The test program was aimed at improving the viscosity of the final bitumen product to determine the potential to deliver a premium-grade C170 product from the Alpha project.

The results indicated that, with further fine-tuning of experimental parameters, a viscosity in the range of C170 asphalt could be achieved, Greenvale Energy said.

“These are encouraging results from small-scale lab testing that confirm the potential to achieve good recovery of bitumen products with improved viscosity,” Greenvale chief executive officer Mark Turner said.

“We will now work with the University of Jordan to determine the next steps, which may include progressing to a bulk testwork program.”

The Alpha torbanite project is located about 50km south of the central Queensland town of Alpha. 

Greenvale Energy released an updated mineral resource estimate for the project late last year of 28Mt of combined cannelite and torbanite. The synthetic oil equivalency of the deposit was estimated at 27.7 million barrels.