U.S. Global LLC Information

U.S. Global, LLC ("USG") acted as co-developer and monetization agent with respect to 4 SCRS Facilities (the "Facilities") originally constructed by an Indianapolis based company called Earthco, which specializes in the recovery of under valued natural resources including coal fines. The Facilities convert coal fines, the readily available, low-grade coal powder produced as a natural by-product of coal mining or processing, into transportable, higher BTU briquettes ("synthetic fuel" or "synfuel"). Each Facility is design rated at a capacity of 1.3 million tons of synfuel per year and qualifies under Section 45 (formerly Section 29) of the tax code to earn tax credits from the production and sale of non-conventional energy resources. Earthco anticipated substantial revenues from the sale of ownership interests in the Facilities and initially engaged U.S. Global to raise funds against these future revenues. However, Earthco had located the facilities at sites that prevented them from gaining access to large coal markets, had no long-term off-take contracts for the synfuel (creating uncertainty as to exactly how many tax credits could be generated) and had numerous other difficulties. In order to realize the potential value of the assetts, U.S. Global approached the utility industry to find potential partners with the ability to: 1) Relocate the Facilities to appropriate sites 2) Operate the facilities at reliable levels of production 3) Either purchase the synfuel directly or re-market it to 3rd Parties 4) Benefit from all or a portion of the tax credits generated by the facilities. U.S. Global developed a flexible financial structure in order to approach major companies both inside and outside of the utility industry to act as active and passive partners. U.S. Global succeeded in its objective of developing the structure necessary to realize the asset value of the Facilities. Florida Progress, a major Florida electric utility company, purchased the four Facilities through its Electric Fuels Corporation ...