Energy resources company Resource Generation is on track to meet its goal of starting production in January 2013 at the Boikarabelo mine in the Waterberg region of South Africa.

It says the key steps now are receipt of mining rights, obtaining project funding to begin construction, and completion of the mine development and infrastructure.

Mr Paul Jury MD of Energy Resource said the company was increasingly excited by the potential of Boikarabelo to become a large, profitable coal mine and were always prepared to discuss the project with its shareholders.

He said that "This is an important step forward in our plans to develop a large-scale coal mining operation with production starting in January 2013."

Mr Jury said "It is only 16 months since your company secured Boikarabelo prospecting rights and since then we have made substantial progress."

The company had defined a 6 billion tonne coal resource; completed the mine plan, identified probable saleable reserves of 603 million tonnes from 23% of the company's available area, designed infrastructure, along with a variety of other measures.

The South African Department of Mines & Energy normally takes approximately 12 months to award mining rights. Meanwhile, Resource Generation will focus on securing coal offtake agreements, determining the most appropriate transport arrangements and planning necessary infrastructure.

Mr Jury said "We are also continuing our drilling program to prove even greater reserves and facilitate mine planning. He said that by the time we receive the mining right, which we expect to be early in 2011, we hope to be well advanced in negotiating funding for the project.

Mr Jury said "This would enable us to begin mine construction and order the mine fleet during 2011. The mine would then be completed and the mine fleet delivered in 2012."

(Sourced from www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk)