The Nava Bharat Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investment Holdings jointly owned Maamba Collieries, planned to resume operations next month has been relaunched on July 8th 2011 by President Mr Rupiah Banda.
Singapore based Nava Bharat with 65% equity in the venture, valued at USD 26 million is primed to benefit from the 70 million coal reserves that the mine is stocked with although under utilized over a time for lack of adequate capital to meet local and international demand from consumers of the heating product.
According to a statement from the Banda’s presidency, the 40 year old Maamba Collieries was on July 8th 2011 poised to be re opened by President Mr Banda and is expected to provide more than 2,000 jobs for both local and expatriate labour when fully operational.
Mr Banda said that the re launching of Mamba collieries will be the incumbent’s trademark of reviving closed mines in the Southern African nation, making it third to be restored in the copper rich nation of Zambia.
Maamba Collieries, according to owners, expect the mine to produce 360,000 tonnes of coal annually with stocks rising to about 2 million over time with the planned recapitalization of the mine that once supplied coal to Zambian mines the local industries and exports to neighbors of Zimbabwe Angola, DR Congo, Botswana, among other countries.
Earlier, Mr Banda officiated at the ground breaking ceremony for First Quantum Minerals USD1 billion Kalumbila and Trident mine project in north western Zambia. Last year, Mr Banda officiated at the Chinese owned and 35,000 tons per annum producer primed Ichimpe mine in Kalulushi in northern Zambia.
According to data, Maamba collieries are expected to re-open under a new majority equity partner, Nava Bharat with 65% ownership in the mine with ZCCM IH, owning 35%. Since taking over the reigns of government President Banda has been instrumental in the economic revival program having also commissioned Zambia’s sole nickel producer, Albidon Munali mine in Southern Zambia, lying about 80 kilometers South of Lusaka.
Maamba collieries, under a new lease of life seeks to increase coal output beyond 360,000 tonnes per annum and increase above 2 million tones per annum by 2014 or thereafter.
Mr Ashwin Devineni director of Maamba Collieries Limited Company said during a recent tour of the mine that the project has resume partial production of coal after management acquired major equipment to propel the plant. The company was only expected to ramp up production of the product once its recently procured Coal Handling and Processing Plant is installed. Management has already started removing overburdened, leveling and compacting of thermal grade coal to stop self combustion.
He said that full scale mining and operations at the coal mine are expected to resume by August 2011 and we have ordered the Coal Handling and Processing Plant from EPE in South Africa with capital investment of USD 23 million. The new CHPP is set to be operational by the end of September 2011.
Various major infrastructure rehabilitation works valued at USD 5 million has been installed on the plant. The company also seeks to set up a 330 MW to sustain operations at the plant and the company was now finalizing the environmental impact assessment for the power plant.
Consumers of coal in Zambia which include the mines and other industries were forced to resort to importing coal from Wankie in Zimbabwe as the product levels and supply needs failed to copy with the increased demand for the coal at the mine. Chinese run Collum coal mine, lying a distance away from Maamba collieries within Sinazongwe district of Zambia is the other producer of the product with output in excess of 100,000 tonnes per annum.
(Filed by Mr Kapembwa Sinkamba SteelGuru Correspondent Zambia)
