It is reported that the discovery of at least two billion tonnes of usable coal reserves has been confirmed in one of the exploration blocks of Tharparkar district in Pakistan's southern province Sindh.

Mr Khalid Mansoor CEO of Engro Energy said that "The technical and economic feasibility report of the project proved that the coal was good enough to generate power, brushing aside the common perception that it could not be used in power plants because of high moisture content.” He added that "We have the report and it has established that this coal is economically, socially and commercially exploitable.”

He said that the feasibility report prepared by multiple foreign consultants, including German RWE and English mining experts SRK, is the first document significant enough to convince banks on financing the project.

According to sources, the total cost of constructing the open pit mine and power plant will be around USD 1.5 billion for open pit mining.

Coal will be excavated in different phases, starting with 6.5 million tonnes a year and going up to 13 million tonnes.

Depletion of gas reserves, in the past couple of years, has compounded the energy crisis in the country. Production of natural gas, which accounts for 47% of the total energy needs, is almost 25% short of the actual requirement.

(Sourced from Xinhua)