THE Latrobe Valley could be transformed into a mining export hub on the scale of the Pilbara or the Hunter Valley thanks to new brown-coal technology, a senior Gillard government minister has declared.

Speaking at an international coal symposium, Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said Victoria could soon deliver its first export shipments of modified brown coal.

Martin Ferguson.

Mr Ferguson's comments come after the Baillieu government last month confirmed it would reignite stalled plans to open up untouched Latrobe Valley coalfields for tender.

With the state possessing about 9 per cent of the world's recoverable brown coal reserves, Mr Ferguson said it could become a mining powerhouse akin to the Pilbara, the North-West Shelf, the Hunter Valley and central Queensland.