2025-03-27

Biggest investment project in the history of EP Power Minerals

Our subsidiary Power Minerals Limited (PML) and Drax Power Limited have signed a minimum 20-year Joint Venture Agreement to produce BS EN 450 quality fly ash.

The deal includes a game changing investment in a state-of-the-art beneficiation plant at Drax Power station in North Yorkshire to process coal ash. The project commences immediately and will harvest and process millions of tonnes of legacy coal ash that was historically deposited at Barlow Mound, adjacent to the power station site.

Fly ash is a low carbon Supplementary Cementitious Material (SCM) for use in green cement and concrete. SCMs are key ingredients in lowering carbon emissions during the production of cement, a process which contributes around 8 % of global CO2 emissions annually.

The factory being built by PML is expected to have an initial production capacity of 400,000 tonnes of low carbon cementitious fly ash per annum. Over the duration of the project, the utilisation of this new fly ash production will reduce emissions of CO2 by a minimum of 6 million tonnes, compared to utilising conventional cements.

We are proud to have pioneered the use of ashes from Drax for more than 20 years, and now we are delighted to be a part of this major investment, securing a long-term future for our business and our relationship with Drax for decades to come.

Nigel Waldron
PML’s Managing Director

This substantial investment will guarantee a stable flow of high quality fly ashes for the UK construction material industry and therefore represent a game-changer not only for PML, but for the entire EP Power Minerals Cementitious Materials business. This positions us to become the leading player in the UK fly ash market for the foreseeable future.”

Nils Jansen
Head of Cementitious Materials bei EP Power Minerals GmbH

This investment is in line with EPPM’s strategy to invest into fly ash beneficiation plants in Europe and the US and will be followed by similar projects to guarantee the supply of high quality fly ashes for the next decades.

In France and Germany the EP Power Minerals Group has already been operating fly ash beneficiation and drying plants for multiple decades.

Recent investment projects include the conversion of our Hornaing plant in the North of France for fly ash processing by our subsidiary Surschiste. This project will also involve the modernisation of production facilities. Surschiste has been active in fly ash processing in Hornaing and St. Avold for many years. The team brings extensive expertise to the project, ensuring efficient and high-quality operations.

EP Power Minerals is also operating a drying plant in Lünen, Germany. The Lünen site was opened in 2001 and makes an important contribution to balancing the seasonal gap between production and demand.