Singapore firm to boost Zambia coal mine output
Posté: Mar 22 Juin 2010 12:23
Singapore firm to boost Zambia coal mine output - Tue Jun 22, 2010 - By Chris Mfula
LUSAKA (Reuters) - Singapore's Nava Bharat Pte plans to almost double output at Zambia's Maamba coal mine by 2011 after modernizing the facility it acquired last year, a senior industry official said on Tuesday.
Nava Bharat in December acquired a 65 percent stake in Maamba, a key supplier of coal to the copper mines in Africa's largest producer of the metal, while 35 percent of the shares were retained by the state-run ZCCM-IH.
Nava Bharat also signed an agreement to build a 300-megawatt thermal power plant.
Mining permanent secretary, Godwin Beene told Reuters Nava Bharat planned to build a new $12 million coal processing plant by the end of 2010.
"Maamba mine will be producing close to 360,000 tonnes of coal for the first year while production for the next two years is likely to be 600,000 tonnes of marketable grade coal," Beene said in response to written questions.
Beene said Maamba mine, which has 78 million tonnes of known coal reserves expected to last over 70 years, and produced 600,000 tonnes coal during peak production in the 1980s, aimed to reach a maximum output capacity of 2 million tonnes of coal per year in the long term.
"Peak capacity is likely to be 1 million tonnes of marketable coal and about the same tonnage of power grade coal that will feed our power plant," he said.
Beene said the power project was estimated to cost $630 million of which 70 percent would be financed through debt and the remaining 30 percent from equity by shareholders.
A leading financial institution had been appointed transaction advisor and given the responsibility to syndicate funds to build the thermal power plant planned for commissioning in three years, he said.
Beene said negotiations with Zambia state power utility Zesco Ltd. for a long-term power purchase agreement had started and Maamba expected to secure the financing for the project upon agreement with Zesco.
"We are focusing on the Zambian market for coal as well as power. We, however, expect to grow in the capacity of the mine and power plant and then look to neighbouring countries for sales," he said.
Zambia plans to eventually list 25 percent of the shares in Maamba Collieries on the local bourse with a larger share of that coming from the government's stake once the firm established a track record of profitability.
http://af.reuters.com/article/investing ... 22?sp=true
LUSAKA (Reuters) - Singapore's Nava Bharat Pte plans to almost double output at Zambia's Maamba coal mine by 2011 after modernizing the facility it acquired last year, a senior industry official said on Tuesday.
Nava Bharat in December acquired a 65 percent stake in Maamba, a key supplier of coal to the copper mines in Africa's largest producer of the metal, while 35 percent of the shares were retained by the state-run ZCCM-IH.
Nava Bharat also signed an agreement to build a 300-megawatt thermal power plant.
Mining permanent secretary, Godwin Beene told Reuters Nava Bharat planned to build a new $12 million coal processing plant by the end of 2010.
"Maamba mine will be producing close to 360,000 tonnes of coal for the first year while production for the next two years is likely to be 600,000 tonnes of marketable grade coal," Beene said in response to written questions.
Beene said Maamba mine, which has 78 million tonnes of known coal reserves expected to last over 70 years, and produced 600,000 tonnes coal during peak production in the 1980s, aimed to reach a maximum output capacity of 2 million tonnes of coal per year in the long term.
"Peak capacity is likely to be 1 million tonnes of marketable coal and about the same tonnage of power grade coal that will feed our power plant," he said.
Beene said the power project was estimated to cost $630 million of which 70 percent would be financed through debt and the remaining 30 percent from equity by shareholders.
A leading financial institution had been appointed transaction advisor and given the responsibility to syndicate funds to build the thermal power plant planned for commissioning in three years, he said.
Beene said negotiations with Zambia state power utility Zesco Ltd. for a long-term power purchase agreement had started and Maamba expected to secure the financing for the project upon agreement with Zesco.
"We are focusing on the Zambian market for coal as well as power. We, however, expect to grow in the capacity of the mine and power plant and then look to neighbouring countries for sales," he said.
Zambia plans to eventually list 25 percent of the shares in Maamba Collieries on the local bourse with a larger share of that coming from the government's stake once the firm established a track record of profitability.
http://af.reuters.com/article/investing ... 22?sp=true