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Africa Moyo —
PRIVATELY-held Makomo Resources, Zimbabwe’s biggest coal miner, has secured more than US$1 billion for construction of a 600MW thermal power station in Hwange.
Sino Hydro carried out a feasibility study for the project on behalf of the miner and construction is expected to begin at the end of the first quarter of 2017. It is forecast that the project will be completed within 36 months.
Makomo Resources director Mr Raymond Mutokonyi told The Sunday Mail Business it was critical to get uninterrupted coal supplies before power generation starts.
“We have secured funding from various financing houses and our technical partners. It (power plant) is a US$1,2 billion to US$1,5 billion project …
“Our current special grant is just 7 000 hectares, so we want to be given more resources so that we progress with our expansion. Remember, we are building a power station, so we would want to augment that to make sure future supplies are guaranteed.
“Currently, our special grant is 7 000 hectares but the general requirement is 20 000 hectares, so we would want a minimum of that.
“We have done exploration and assuming at current production of three million tonnes a year, we will do about 40 years, but if we increase production, the life of the mine declines,” said Mr Mutokonyi.
Makomo — which mines at Entuba Colliery, almost 17km from Hwange town — has been extracting coal for the last six years and has so far dug up more than seven million tonnes.
Makomo replaced Hwange Colliery Company Limited as the top coal miner, with monthly production volumes of about 150 000 tonnes. The existing concessions have a life-of-mine of 40 years at an annual production rate of three million tonnes.
Experts usually describe life-of-mine as the time in which ore reserves can be extracted at a given rate. It is envisaged that getting the additional claims will extend the life-of-mine to 80 years.
Last week, Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa intimated that Makomo would be given additional concessions. There are 85 prospective coal mining companies that have applied to get claims from Government.
But much of the coal resources, particularly in Matabeleland North, lie in wildlife conservancies and national parks. Many international financiers are no longer agreeable to financing thermal coal power plants as they are considered to be environmentally-unfriendly.
Instead most investments are being channelled to green energy or renewable energy projects such as solar and wind and biogas.
Online Reporter