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adequate energy supplies.
Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu disclosed this at the ongoing third edition of the Zimbabwe Mining Indaba.
“We have awarded 20 licences for coal exploration and mining. This should help in ensuring that the country can generate adequate electricity for the economy in general,” he said.
This means 15 more coal mining firms have been licensed since early this year when Minister Mpofu announced that five new players had been licensed to explore coal in Matabeleland North Province.
These five firms were Makomo Investments, WK Blasting, Clidder, Apex and Liberation Mining.
Most of the 20 companies are joint venture between locals and foreigners with locals owning controlling stakes in accordance with the indigenisation and empowerment law.
According to a earlier research note by business research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, Zimbabwe has coal reserves that will “approximately last the next 200 years at a production output of 5 000 tonnes per annum”.
Accordingly, these coal reserves can be used as feedstock for coal-powered thermal power stations.
The extensive potential of the country’s coal reserves were also confirmed by South African-based firm, Sable Mining, which said results from its Lubu coal concession confirmed high grades.
Sable reported that the results support the presence of high coking coal fractions across multiple stems.
The Lubu concession covers 192,36 square kilometres of the highly prospective Karro Mid-Zambezi coal basin, in the established Hwange mining district.
The Zimbabwe Electricity Regulatory Commission recently licensed 13 independent power projects.
Online Reporter