AMN - TANZANIA: Mining licence for Rukwa coal deposit

Edenville Energy has updated progress on its Rukwa Coal to Power project in southwest Tanzania following the granting of the Mining Licence for its Rukwa coal deposit in February. This has allowed the company to initiate and significantly advance a development schedule across the project's mining and power plant components.

The granting of the Mining Licence, combined with the Tanzanian Government's commitment to rapidly develop coal based power plants to expand the country's electricity supply, has allowed project work to increase significantly.”

Discussions with potential funding and technical partners will continue during this work program, as Edenville aims to add maximum value whilst retaining control of the project. Work either already in progress or starting in the second quarter 2016 includes:

-  Sourcing and acquisition of suitable plant and machinery for the commencement of site earthworks scheduled for Q2 2016. The company is running final comparisons between hire, purchase and contract options to determine the most cost effective solution to start site preparation works, as per the conditions of the Mining Licence

-  Excavation and testing of a bulk sample of coal - to determine the proportion of coal to be washed and optimise design for both the coal wash plant and power plant furnace and boiler

- Commissioning of remaining mining Bankable Feasibility work. This will incorporate both near term mining plan and large scale power plant supply requirements

- Expansion of the 2014 Lahmeyer Power Plant feasibility study to include phased scale up to a 300 MW thermal power plant. The majority of the feasibility work is already contained within Lahmeyer's 2014 study. The augmented report will be a desk top process, to review expansion options for increasing power generation capacity to 300 MW

- Progress the Power Plant Environmental Impact Assessment work to complete the application process for the Power Plant EIA certificate. The EIA baseline monitoring study is due for completion in June 2016 and Tansheq, environmental consultant, is already preparing documentation needed for the application process

- Commission an airborne topographic survey to accurately map both the mine and power plant locations to enable detailed design work on both mine site and power plant areas.

The company expects to have the majority of the tasks completed during Q3 2016 with the exclusion of the Power Plant EIA which is a longer lead time item. All consultancy teams are aware of, and working within, strict financial and time parameters.

Since the grant of the Mining Licence Edenville has moved forward discussions with numerous potential investors and is considering options for sourcing and structure of project debt and equity. In parallel Edenville continues with site preparation and value add technical work on the ground.

The project is moving rapidly to clear pre-development milestones and to satisfy the requirements of the Tanzanian authorities including the Tanzanian Ministry of Energy and Minerals and Tanzania Electric Supply Co (Tanesco), in order to agree a Power Purchase Agreement, setting the tariff and supply terms for the generation, sale and distribution of electricity.

The three coal deposits of Mkomolo, Namwele and Muze all lie within the Rukwa Coalfield. All three projects are controlled by Edenville Energy and sit in a cluster; Namwele and Mkomolo are adjacent and Muze lies just 12 km to the east.

http://edenville-energy.com/

News courtesy of International Mining