Macauhub reported that Eta Star Moçambique SA, a joint venture made up of the Dubai based Eta Star group and Mozambican companies Minas do Zambeze and Índico Investments, has announced it has found around 2 billion tonnes of coal in Moatize, in Tete Province.

The concession on the coal mine covers an area of 4,000 hectares.

Mr Mohamed Sathak MD told Mozambican newspaper Notícias that much of the coal was at a depth of 300 metres, which made it possible to mine using an open face method.

He said “At the moment we are at and advanced stage of prospecting and research. In a while we will start producing. We have identified potential markets including India, China and Indonesia. We have focused on the acquisition and sale of coal but we intend to directly mine coal at our mine in Mozambique.”

According to Sathak, Eta Star also plans to get a mining license from the Mozambican government in 2012 and to start producing 5 million tonnes of coal per year, of which 1.5 million tonnes will be coking coal and the remainder will be thermal coal.

(Sourced from macauhub)