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Botswana marks private coal first
BOTSWANA
BOTSWANA’S only private coal mine has pro- duced its rst saleable coal for export to South Africa and Namibia.
The Masama mine has produced 39,000 tonnes since July and aims to ramp up output to 100,000 tonnes per month of saleable coal by 2020, Minergy CEO Morne du Plessis said, Reu- ters reported.
“From (this month) it is envisaged that Min- ergy will be mining 110,000 tonnes run of mine per month. The same quantities will be put through the washing plant and this should result in saleable coal of between 70,000 to 80,000 tonnes, increasing to 100,000 tonnes per month next year,” he said.
“Minergy is currently exploring various options for o ake, ranging from longer-term agreements for the ner du product to spot deals for the bigger fractions,” he added.
e open cast mine and associated coal wash plant is located 60km north-west of Gaborone and was developed at a cost of $37mn.
e Masama mine, the rst privately owned coal mine in Botswana, is estimated to hold 390mn tonnes of coal reserves.
Despite Botswana’s huge estimated coal
resources of 212bn tonnes, Minergy’s Masama mine is one of only two operating coal mines in the country.
The other is state-owned Morupule Coal Mine, which forms part of the Morupule coal- to-power complex.
Meanwhile, India’s Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) has sold o its assets in Botswana’s Mmamabula Coalfield to Botswana’s Maatla Energy for $150mn, abandoning its previ- ous plans to develop 1,200 MW of generating capacity.
Maatla Energy already has assets in the Mmamabula Coal eld, situated to the north of Minergy’s Masama project.
JSPL bought the non-producing assets from Canada’s CIC Energy for $116mn in 2012, but is now selling up as it rationalises its portfolio across Africa and Asia.
e company has investment and business ventures in Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania and Madagascar.
However, with rising debt and the global slowdown in the coal and steel market over the past few years, JSPL is selling o its international ventures to reduce its debt burden.™
POLICY
Eskom begins sending 400MW to Zimbabwe
Power utility Eskom on Friday began exports of up to 400MW of electricity to Zimbabwe, easing a protracted power crisis in that country characterised by daily outages lasting up to 18 hours.
State-owned power authority Zesa expects a combination of lower demand and the additional supply to mean Zimbabweans
will face less time without electricity, Zesa spokesperson Fullard Gwasira toldBloomberg.
“We are currently receiving 400MW from Eskom, most of our power stations are also running and the temperatures are also beginning to pick up, and so some of the winter gadgets are beginning to be switched o ,” he said.
Eskom said it had started a “discretionary supply” of 50MW, which it would increase if and when capacity allowed.
“All conditions precedent have been met and we will supply in accordance with the contract we have in place,” said Eskom
NEWS IN BRIEF
spokesperson Dikatso Mothae.
Zimbabwe owes Eskom $23m in unpaid
bills and its treasury has committed to weekly payments of $890,000 to clear the debt.
GAS-FIRED GENERATION
NNPC highlights benefits
of Nigeria-Morocco gas
pipeline
e Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) project would open new vistas for Nigeria’s gas aspirations, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mallam Mele Kyari, has said. Mallam Kyari disclosed this Tuesday in abuja at a stakeholders’ engagement involving the corporation, its Moroccan partner on the Gas Project, the Morocco National O ce for Hydrocarbons & Mines (ONHYM), and the executives of International Oil Companies operating Nigeria, at the NNPC Towers.
e meeting was sequel to high-level
discussions on the Pipeline Cooperation agreement (PCa) for the NMGP project signed between both countries during separate visits by their leaders, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari and King Hassan VI of Morocco.
e PCawill particularly facilitate the establishment of a gas pipeline to supply the product from Nigeria to Morocco and the West african sub-region and further into Europe. at the moment, both countries are planning to extend the pipeline that has been pumping gas from Nigeria to Benin, Togo and Ghana since 2010 to Morocco.
Speaking shortly a er the engagement with the representatives of the multinationals, Kyari described the project as strategic for
the country, adding that the project would provide market for Nigerian gas. “We have
a lot of stranded gas particularly in the Deepwater that we need to put on the table. is project will enable us have more gas
for domestic consumption so that we can improve power supply and gas to Industry,” Kyari stated.
NNPC
Week 32 14•August•2019
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