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Maamba collieries acquire 90pct of equipment to resume opera
Maamba collieries acquire 90pct of equipment to resume operations by next month
Monday, 16 May 2011
Maamba collieries, owned 65% equity by Singapore based Nava Bharat Plc acquired 90% of the equipment to resume operations by next month.
The leading coal producer in Zambia and once the main provider of the product to the Southern African region until recently, said it is expected to resume production of coal in three weeks time having acquired much of the equipment and machinery assembled in South Africa.
Mr Kalunga Mumba CEO of Maamba told Mr Felix Mutati commerce trade and industry minister of Zambia during a tour of the plant that the project was almost ready to resume production with most of the machinery having arrived awaiting installation ahead of the planned production restart.
Additionally, the company plans to setting up 300 MW thermal power plants to be sold to the state owned Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation and help meet power demand in the country. It plans to create 300 jobs for local people once operational. Nava Bharat intends to revive the mining activities in the area which was halted because of ailing equipment at one of the country’s oldest coal miner and that the company would soon diversify into generation of thermal power.
Mr Mutati during the tour of the mine said that government was happy with the progress made by the company to revive operations and meet the increasing demand for the heating product and that the resumption would lessen the anxiety of the local people in Sianzongwe district in Southern Zambia where it is located. It is critical that Maamba collieries was revived at the soonest possible time and ensure people that lost their jobs during the shutdown could retain their jobs based on their expertise and contributions to the growth the once formidable coal producer in the country.
Maamba collieries have received a fillip from Nava Bharat that has injected an initial investment of USD 750 million. The beginning of coal production at the mine would enable the company meet the projected production of 1.2 million tonnes of coal per annum. Government, according to Mutati had in the past 5 years of the dormancy of the mine been working on securing a credible investor to rejuvenate coal production and sustain the project.
While the Maamba cola mine has been dubbed to have the potential to significantly contribute to the economic growth program of the country, it was imperative for the new owners to realize that the citizens should not sustain their livelihood on mere promises but meet the aspirations of job creation.
Mr Mutati said that government will continue giving support to the to the coal mine in form of policy and marketing of the product. According to data, Maamba collieries has coal reserves of about 78 million tones which remained untapped because of among other reasons, lack of modern equipment to mine the product and meet local and regional demand.
Earlier, the mine was essentially the main source of coal, providing various countries including Democratic Republic of Congo. It was until recently a key competitor to Zimbabwe’s Wankie collieries. Following its failure to sustain operations and meet demand at home and within the region most local companies including mines, resorting to importing coal, at slightly higher price for lack of it on the local market to sustain their operations.
Zambia’s Lafarge Plc, the country’s leading cement producer, is one of the key consumers of Maamba coal while several other local industries relied heavily on the local product. Other competitors in Zambia include the Chinese run Collum Coal mine which produces 100,000 tones of coal per annum.