Sunday, 12 Feb 2012
The Japanese Deputy Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Mr Tadahiro Matsushita has asked the Mozambican government to speed up the granting of a coal mining concession in the western province of Tete to the Nippon Steel Corporation.
Mr Matsushita made this request on Wednesday, during an audience granted by Mozambican President Armando Guebuza.
Nippon Steel has been exploring for coal in Revobue, near the mining concessions granted to Vale of Brazil and Riversdale of Australia (which has now been taken over by Rio Tinto). Now it needs to replace the exploration licence with a licence for a mining concession. Nippon Steel hopes to begin effective mining by 2014.
Mr Matsushita told reporters after the audience that "In the meeting with President Guebuza we spoke of coal exploration in Tete, because there is a Japanese company working on prospection which wants a licence for a mining concession. I asked the President to grant the licence as quickly as possible.”
He added that "We don't just want to extract coal, but we also want to rehabilitate infrastructures, train Mozambican staff, and help generate employment, thus contributing to Mozambique's development.”
The list of infrastructures that Japan wants to rehabilitate includes the northern port of Nacala and the road links from Tete to Nacala.
As for natural gas, Mr Matsushita said Japan sees that Mozambique has great potential in this area, and we are going to negotiate so that in future we can implement projects. There are many Japanese companies that have shown an interest in natural gas.
In order to step up cooperation between the two countries in mineral resources, two high level Mozambican delegations will visit Japan later this month. The first, led by the Minister of Mineral Resources, Esperanca Bias, will travel to Japan next week.
(Sourced from allafrica.com)
Showing posts with label Mozambique government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mozambique government. Show all posts
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Efforts to expedite clearance for coal projects in India
Wed, 07 Dec 2011
At present, 176 Coal projects are awaiting Environment & forestry clearances at different levels. Ministry of Coal has taken up the issue with coal producing States and MOEF for fast tracking the Environment & Forest clearances, land acquisition R& R issues. Further following steps have been taken by the coal companies to expedite the clearances:
1. Vigorous follow up action with land acquisition officials of State Government to expedite acquisition proceedings.
2. Regular meetings with State Authorities viz. Land Revenue Commissioner, LR Secretary are held to resolve the issues.
3. Forest Officials are contacted on regular basis at District & Tehsil level to fulfill the requirement and answer the queries.
4. Periodical contacts are done with the Regional Office of MOEF/ MOEF, New Delhi for expediting clearance of the environmental & forestry proposals.
5. Discussions are held with the land owners/ villagers for selection of rehabilitation site and also to persuade them to shift to the rehabilitation site.
Besides this in order to bridge the demand-supply gap CIL is contemplating to acquire coal assets abroad and import the produces from the acquired coal to India. This foreign venture is being pursued from Coal Videsh Division at CIL Kolkata and several initiatives have been taken which are as follows :
CIL emerged as the successful bidder in the global tender process run by Govt. of Mozambique and acquired prospecting license of two coal blocks in Mozambique, namely A1 and A2, covering an area of 22,400 hectares in Tete Province. The PL entitles CIL to explore and develop the coal blocks over a period of 5 years. A 100% wholly owned subsidiary of CIL namely, Coal India Africana Limitada, has been registered in Mozambique for investment in coal resources.
Coal India Ltd had floated a global Expression of Interest in July 2009 to select Strategic Partner(s) in preferred destination countries like Australia, USA, South Africa and Indonesia to acquire stakes in the existing or Greenfield coal resources under the following deal structures:
1. Equity investment by CIL with long-term off-take contract at a price less than prevailing import price.
2. Only long-term off-take contract on cost plus basis at a price less than prevailing import price, with financial assistance (if required) by way of loan from CIL for production augmentation.
3. Formation of JV for exploration, development and operation of coal assets in any of the destination countries.
Through all the above deal structures, CIL proposes to import coal with the dual objective of ensuring security of supply and insulation from the volatility of global prices. However, the process is still underway and CIL has not yet acquired any mines abroad. In addition to this, Government of India has approved formation of a Special Purpose Vehicle through Joint Venture between CIL/SAIL/RINL/NMDC and NTPC, which has been registered as International Coal Ventures Private Ltd on May 20th 2009. The purpose of ICVL is to invest in coal resources abroad to meet the coal demand of partner companies. The SPV has been approved to have an authorized capital of INR 10,000 Crores and an initial paid up capital of INR 3,500 crores. Initiatives have been taken to primarily acquire coking coal assets in Australia, Mozambique, USA etc.
At present, 176 Coal projects are awaiting Environment & forestry clearances at different levels. Ministry of Coal has taken up the issue with coal producing States and MOEF for fast tracking the Environment & Forest clearances, land acquisition R& R issues. Further following steps have been taken by the coal companies to expedite the clearances:
1. Vigorous follow up action with land acquisition officials of State Government to expedite acquisition proceedings.
2. Regular meetings with State Authorities viz. Land Revenue Commissioner, LR Secretary are held to resolve the issues.
3. Forest Officials are contacted on regular basis at District & Tehsil level to fulfill the requirement and answer the queries.
4. Periodical contacts are done with the Regional Office of MOEF/ MOEF, New Delhi for expediting clearance of the environmental & forestry proposals.
5. Discussions are held with the land owners/ villagers for selection of rehabilitation site and also to persuade them to shift to the rehabilitation site.
Besides this in order to bridge the demand-supply gap CIL is contemplating to acquire coal assets abroad and import the produces from the acquired coal to India. This foreign venture is being pursued from Coal Videsh Division at CIL Kolkata and several initiatives have been taken which are as follows :
CIL emerged as the successful bidder in the global tender process run by Govt. of Mozambique and acquired prospecting license of two coal blocks in Mozambique, namely A1 and A2, covering an area of 22,400 hectares in Tete Province. The PL entitles CIL to explore and develop the coal blocks over a period of 5 years. A 100% wholly owned subsidiary of CIL namely, Coal India Africana Limitada, has been registered in Mozambique for investment in coal resources.
Coal India Ltd had floated a global Expression of Interest in July 2009 to select Strategic Partner(s) in preferred destination countries like Australia, USA, South Africa and Indonesia to acquire stakes in the existing or Greenfield coal resources under the following deal structures:
1. Equity investment by CIL with long-term off-take contract at a price less than prevailing import price.
2. Only long-term off-take contract on cost plus basis at a price less than prevailing import price, with financial assistance (if required) by way of loan from CIL for production augmentation.
3. Formation of JV for exploration, development and operation of coal assets in any of the destination countries.
Through all the above deal structures, CIL proposes to import coal with the dual objective of ensuring security of supply and insulation from the volatility of global prices. However, the process is still underway and CIL has not yet acquired any mines abroad. In addition to this, Government of India has approved formation of a Special Purpose Vehicle through Joint Venture between CIL/SAIL/RINL/NMDC and NTPC, which has been registered as International Coal Ventures Private Ltd on May 20th 2009. The purpose of ICVL is to invest in coal resources abroad to meet the coal demand of partner companies. The SPV has been approved to have an authorized capital of INR 10,000 Crores and an initial paid up capital of INR 3,500 crores. Initiatives have been taken to primarily acquire coking coal assets in Australia, Mozambique, USA etc.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Mozambican suspends granting of coal mining licenses in Tete Province
Saturday, 01 Oct 2011
The Mozambican government has decided to suspend the issue of new licenses for coal mining in Tete province.
Mr Afonso Abica inspector of the Mining Resources Ministry said that the suspension, which includes prospecting and surveying licenses, mining certificates and mining concessions aims to assess to what extent companies that already hold licenses are complying with the contracts signed with the government.
On the sidelines of a seminar on reviewing the Mining Law, Mr Mabica said that the decision to suspend the issuing of new mining licenses was only related to coal mining in Tete province and that other mining activities would not be affected.
The inspector also said that companies who were not complying with what had been stipulated in their contracts would be penalised and, in extreme cases, could have their licenses revoked.
He said “By revoking the mining licenses we want areas that are currently occupied without being explored can be handed over to other people who are interested and available to work on them.”
Over the last two years the government has granted over 112 licenses to 45 national and foreign companies linked to coal mining in Tete province, which is thought to have the largest coal reserves in the world.
It is estimated that within five years over 100 million tonnes of coal per year will be mined from the Zambezi coal basin, making Mozambique one of the world’s largest coal exporters. However, despite the huge potential, few companies are moving to develop their concessions.
(Sourced from macauhub)
The Mozambican government has decided to suspend the issue of new licenses for coal mining in Tete province.
Mr Afonso Abica inspector of the Mining Resources Ministry said that the suspension, which includes prospecting and surveying licenses, mining certificates and mining concessions aims to assess to what extent companies that already hold licenses are complying with the contracts signed with the government.
On the sidelines of a seminar on reviewing the Mining Law, Mr Mabica said that the decision to suspend the issuing of new mining licenses was only related to coal mining in Tete province and that other mining activities would not be affected.
The inspector also said that companies who were not complying with what had been stipulated in their contracts would be penalised and, in extreme cases, could have their licenses revoked.
He said “By revoking the mining licenses we want areas that are currently occupied without being explored can be handed over to other people who are interested and available to work on them.”
Over the last two years the government has granted over 112 licenses to 45 national and foreign companies linked to coal mining in Tete province, which is thought to have the largest coal reserves in the world.
It is estimated that within five years over 100 million tonnes of coal per year will be mined from the Zambezi coal basin, making Mozambique one of the world’s largest coal exporters. However, despite the huge potential, few companies are moving to develop their concessions.
(Sourced from macauhub)
Monday, August 22, 2011
Vale Mocambique to start exporting coal from Moatize in August
Monday, 22 Aug 2011
macauhub reported that Mozambican subsidiary of Brazilian mining giant Vale, Vale Moçambique is due this month to start exporting coal mined in Moatize, Tete province, to the European market.
The report cited Mr Vanessa Bernardo coordinator of Vale communication and development office as saying that within the next few days a ship would dock at the port of Beira that will carry the coal that started being transported last week from the mine to the coal terminal at the port along the Sena railroad.
The Moatize coal mine, in the coal basin of the same name, which in this first phase involves investment of USD 1.658 billion, will produce 11 million tonnes of metallurgical and thermal coal per year and the latter will also be used for the company’s own consumption to fire its power plant and to link up to the Mozambican national grid.
Brazil’s Vale, which set up in Moatize in 2004, has a concession on one of the world’s largest coal reserves and the company expects positive results in the near future.
The Moatize project which is currently Vale’s largest investment in the coal sector, is part of the group’s strategy to become a benchmark in the world coal sector and it also has a portfolio of mining projects in Australia and Colombia, as well as minority stakes in two partnerships in China.
(sourced Macauhub)
macauhub reported that Mozambican subsidiary of Brazilian mining giant Vale, Vale Moçambique is due this month to start exporting coal mined in Moatize, Tete province, to the European market.
The report cited Mr Vanessa Bernardo coordinator of Vale communication and development office as saying that within the next few days a ship would dock at the port of Beira that will carry the coal that started being transported last week from the mine to the coal terminal at the port along the Sena railroad.
The Moatize coal mine, in the coal basin of the same name, which in this first phase involves investment of USD 1.658 billion, will produce 11 million tonnes of metallurgical and thermal coal per year and the latter will also be used for the company’s own consumption to fire its power plant and to link up to the Mozambican national grid.
Brazil’s Vale, which set up in Moatize in 2004, has a concession on one of the world’s largest coal reserves and the company expects positive results in the near future.
The Moatize project which is currently Vale’s largest investment in the coal sector, is part of the group’s strategy to become a benchmark in the world coal sector and it also has a portfolio of mining projects in Australia and Colombia, as well as minority stakes in two partnerships in China.
(sourced Macauhub)
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Mozambique to issue more coal licenses by 2012
Tue,March01,2011
MAPUTO – Mozambique will issue more coal exploration licenses in three provinces between this year and 2012, a senior government official said on Tuesday.
National Mining Director in the Mineral Resources Ministry Eduardo Alexandre told Reuters foreign firms from North America, Europe and Asia will be invited.
"We hope to issue at least five exploration licences this year and next in the provinces of Tete, Niassa and Cabo Delgado in the northern regions of Mozambique," Alexandre said in an interview.
"We have areas where there is a potential existence of coal in the provinces of Niassa, Tete and Cabo Delgado."
The resource-rich state with vast, untapped coal deposits has so far granted 105 licenses for research and exploration of mineral resources.
Australia's Riversdale, India's Tata Steel, Brazil's Vale are looking to exploit coal in the country with billions of tonnes of mineable coal. Edited by:Reuters
Tags: world's untapped coal deposit, India, raw material,
National Mining Director in the Mineral Resources Ministry Eduardo Alexandre told Reuters foreign firms from North America, Europe and Asia will be invited.
"We hope to issue at least five exploration licences this year and next in the provinces of Tete, Niassa and Cabo Delgado in the northern regions of Mozambique," Alexandre said in an interview.
"We have areas where there is a potential existence of coal in the provinces of Niassa, Tete and Cabo Delgado."
The resource-rich state with vast, untapped coal deposits has so far granted 105 licenses for research and exploration of mineral resources.
Australia's Riversdale, India's Tata Steel, Brazil's Vale are looking to exploit coal in the country with billions of tonnes of mineable coal. Edited by:Reuters
Tags: world's untapped coal deposit, India, raw material,
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