adminThe firm was granted special gas and coal concessions in 2003 and 2007 respectively but lack of technical and financial resources delayed the investments from going beyond exploration stages.
If extracted, the coal bed methane gas would be used to generate electricity as well as produce fertiliser.
Mr Nherera told Business Chronicle that the gas project was still at an exploration stage while the coal mine was in the development phase.
“For the gas project, we are still exploring and much more than $100 million is needed for that project,” he said.
He said the liquidity crunch hampered their efforts to secure credit lines.
“As you might be aware of the situation in the country, we have not yet secured funding for the gas project,” he said.
He said gas extraction would be determined by the exploration results.
“The results that we get out of the exploration work would determine whether we should or not proceed to mine the gas,” he said.
Mr Nherera said the development of the coal mine in Hwange district started at the end of last year.
The mining concern last year invested $15 million into the colliery project and progressively another $10 million would be injected into the project.
Zambezi Gas is at the moment working on the Open Pit Cast Mine.
Once production at the colliery starts, the company targets to produce 50 000 tonnes of coal per month before ramping productivity to 100 000 tonnes per month within two years.
Indigenous shareholders control 51 percent in Zambezi Gas, with the rest taken up by foreign investors .
The consortium’s coalfields have more than 200 million tonnes of the black gold reserves across about 19 000 hectares.
derick.khumalo
Online Reporter