GREEN DEALS: Cleantech woes

Australian clean-tech stocks continue to suffer amid a policy vacuum and little interests from the investment community. The ACT Australian CleanTech Index, which measures the performance of around 80 stocks worth more than $11 billion (they used to be worth more than $16 billion) fell another 5.2 per cent in January, outrunning the 0.3 per cent loss of the broader Australian stock market, and the 2.1 per cent loss of the S&P ASX Small Ordinaries Index.

The latest monthly performance came after a reasonably solid six month period to the end of December, when the index gained 6.8 per cent and managed to outperform the S&P 200. But the index now risks posting its fourth consecutive fiscal year loss, with its three-year cumulative loss standing at minus 49.4 per cent compared to a 15 per cent loss for the broader market.

The latest results were driven by poor performances by wind energhy group Infigen, Sims Metal Management and the two newly listed cleantech companies Redflow and Water Resources Group. The poor results were partially offset by strong results from Advanced Energy Systems, the Crane Group (under a takeover offer from Fletcher), Stericorp, Novarise Renewable Resources, Galaxy Resources, Eden Energy and Orbital Corporation.

Orocobre taps the market

Aspiring lithium producer Orocobre is taking advantage of its recent share price surge to raise up to $38 million in placements to investors in Australia and Canada. The funds raised will be used for engineering design work, and pilot plant operations at the Salar de Olaroz project in South America.

Orocobre says $C20 million will be raised at $S3.20 a share from Canadian investors through Cormark Securities, Dundee Securities, CIBC World Markets and Byron Securities, with a further $C3 million possible through over subscriptions. Patersons Securities will handle a placement of $15 million of shares at $3.21 to institutional and sophisticated investors in Australia. Orocobre shares last traded at $3.37, after more than doubling in the last 12 months and hitting a peak of $4.05 last month.

Oils ain't oils

The listed energy company Jatoil says it has reached a 200-tonne milestone for the production of jatropha oil for the use as feedstock for biojet aviation fuel. Jatoil has been producing jatropha oil from its Java-based plantation for around six months and is confident demand for the product will increase as new mandatory EU emission regulations come into force for airlines flying into and within the EU next year

Jatropha CEO Phil Hodgson says biojet fuel derived from jatropha has been successfully tested by several airlines, and is poised for more widespread use in commercial aircraft in 2011. He said the company's operations in Java have been visited by airlines such as Lufthansa.

-- Giles Parkinson