Maravi

Maamba Collieries hopes to hit high gear by March

Maamba Collieries hopes to hit high gear by March
By Gift Chanda in Sinazongwe
Mon 09 Jan. 2012, 13:49 CAT

MAAMBA Collieries sees full-scale mining activities and sale of high-grade coal commencing by March this year, says company chief operating officer Gurram Narayana.

Narayana said full-scale operations at Zambia's largest coal producer, which is majority owned by Singapore's Nava Bharat Pte, have delayed commencing due to the new Coal Handling and Processing Plant (CHPP) which is yet to be erected.

He said partial mining activity, however, had commenced but operations are only expected to be ramped up by March when the CHPP is fully operational and commissioned.

"We see full-scale mining operations and sales of high grade coal which was suspended about three years ago only resuming by March," said Narayana on Friday when mines safety director Mooya Lumamba toured the mine.

Initially, operations at Maamba Collieries were expected to start by the end of July 2011.

The new mine, which is expected to produce 360,000 tonnes of coal in its first year, aims to reach a maximum output capacity of two million tonnes per year eventually.

It also expects to ramp up the washed coal sales from about 30,000 tonnes a month to about 50,000 tonnes by 2013.

"We should have had the CHPP up by now and the mine running at full-scale but there was a problem shipping in the contractor's equipment," Narayana explained.

Maamba Collieries, once a key supplier of coal to the country's copper mines, produced about 600,000 tonnes of coal per year in the 1980s, but production slumped due to years of under-capitalisation and operational losses.

Nava Bharat acquired a 65 per cent stake in Maamba in 2009 and planned to spend U$108 million on modernising the mine.

The state, through Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines-Investment Holdings (ZCCM-IH), owns 35 per cent of the Maamba mine.

"We started revival activities in April 2010 and Nava Bharat has to date injected US $50 million into the company," Narayana said.

He further disclosed that the construction of phase one of the 600 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant at the mine was still awaiting environmental approval from the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA).

"We have made a lot of progress with regard to the power plant but we haven't been able to start the construction because we are still waiting for the EIA to be approved," he said. "Once that is done, we will move quickly."

Narayana said the company was considering raising the power plant's capacity from 600 mega watts to 900 mega watts due to the growing power demand in the country.

And Lumamba pledged government's support towards the construction of the thermal power plant.

Lumamba said the plant was necessary as it would ease pressure on power demand in the country.

Labels: MAAMBA COLLIERY

posted by MrK @ 3:26 PM