Message Jeu 7 Juil 2011 17:58

Maamba Collieries Limited may resume full production

Maamba Collieries Limited may resume full production
Thursday, 07 Jul 2011
Maamba Collieries Limited, Zambia leading coal producer and 65 percent Singapore’s Nava Bharat owned may resume full production of the heating product by next month after management acquired major equipment to propel the plant.

Company director Mr Ashwin Devineni said partial production of coal at the more than 40 year old plant has started in earnest and the company was only expected to ramp up production of the product once its recently procured Coal Handling and Processing Plant is installed.

Mr Devineni told reporters recently during a tour of the plant that management was getting set to resume production of coal and has already started removing overburdened, leveling and compacting of thermal grade coal to stop self combustion.

He said “Full scale mining and operations at the coal mine are expected to resume by August 2011 and we have ordered the Coal Handling and Processing Plant from EPE in South Africa with capital investment of USD 23 million. The new CHPP is set to be operational by the end of September 2011”.

Various major infrastructure rehabilitation works valued at US$5 million has been installed on the plant. The company also seeks to set up a 330 MW to sustain operations at the plant and the company was now finalizing the environmental impact assessment for the power plant.

Maamba Collieries Limited is jointly owned by Nava Bharat with Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investments Holdings owning 35 percent equity in the mine. The mine is expected to produce 360,000 tons of coal per annum for the first year.

It aims to increase coal output to 2 million tones per annum in the long term. Maamba collieries has estimated coal reserves of 70 million tonnes which has not been taped for among other things, lack of recapitalization of the mine of a time, which resulted in creditors seizing various equipment to recover their dues.

Consumers of coal in Zambia which include the mines and other industries were forced to resort to importing coal from Wankie in Zimbabwe as the product levels and supply needs failed to copy with the increased demand for the coal at the mine.

Chinese-run Collum coal mine, lying a distance away from Maamba collieries within Sinazongwe district of Zambia is the other producer of the product with output in excess of 100,000 tonnes per annum.

(Filed by Mr Kapembwa Sinkamba SteelGuru Correspondent Zambia)

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