.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Dear Mr. Berko:

Dear T.R.:

Clean Coal Technologies Inc. (CCTC-$17) came to life last October via a reverse merger, and the stock zoomed from $1 a share to more than $30. The company is located in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and has yet to bring in a dime or dollar of revenues. The current price is a little off-putting to me unless there are some respectable revenues and earnings on the near horizon.

CCTC does have a patented technology that removes more than 90 percent of coal’s impurities. The coal is crushed into small pieces, then heated to temperatures in excess of 2,000 degrees at a controlled set of various atmospheric pressures. The noxious impurities (mercury, carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, etc.) described in the Kyoto Protocols are captured without reducing the coal’s effectiveness.

Ex-Vice President Al Gore would love this system, which produces clean coal power, eliminating the need for costly scrubbers or carbon future set-asides. This is a process for which major greenhouse gas polluters (American Electric Power, Ford Motor, U.S. Steel, DuPont, Motorola, etc.) would pay dearly.

Peabody Energy Corp. also has a process that cleans coal but not as efficiently or as cost-effectively as the CCTC technology. Peabody’s technology takes about five hours and removes about 55 percent of the pollutants. CCTC’s technology removes 90 percent of the pollutants and does it in a dozen minutes.

Then there’s another bonus – CCTC’s technology is sort of like making a silk purse from a sow’s ear. It produces a better-quality coal with a 15 percent to 25 percent higher BTU content, which increases its yield and market value. Meanwhile the volatile materials removed by CCTC’s process are condensed into liquid crude that is refined into salable chemicals and fuel.

The process is similar to that used by Sasol Ltd. (SSL-$45.43), a South African company that was recommended by this column at $33 in March. SSL produces oil from coal at a cost of $38 a barrel, from which it produces gasoline and diesel fuel.

CCTC doesn’t have a centime in revenues and probably won’t until 2009. Unfortunately, CCTC’s revenues won’t originate in the United States. With the assistance of the U.S. Department of Commerce, CCTC recently signed a $100 million joint venture agreement with China’s Shanxi Poar Group Co. Ltd. to build and operate its first clean-coal facility. Because of the significant environmental benefits, the Chinese government has provided an 80-acre parcel of land for CCTC to build and operate the plant.

China has enormous coal deposits, and this project should be completed in early 2009. Perhaps that’s why CCTC’s shares rose from $1 to $30 so quickly.

CCTC only has 300,000 shares out, and between 3,000 and 10,000 of its shares trade per day. Management ought to split the stock (10-for-1) to increase the float, reduce price volatility and make it more affordable. I have no objection to a 200-share purchase. I think the stock is a rank speculation but possibly a reasonable rank speculation.

Please address your financial questions to Malcolm Berko, P.O. Box 1416, Boca Raton, Fla. 33429 or e-mail him at malber@adelphia.net.© Copley News Service