Zimbabwe to Open New Coal Mine to Deal With Power Shortage
Posted on: Monday, 13 February 2006, 09:01 CST
Zimbabwe to open new coal mine to deal with power shortage
HARARE, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Hwange Colliery Company Limited ( HCCL), the Zimbabwe's sole coal producer, will before the end of this month open a 50-million-U.S.-dollar opencast mine as part of its response to the anticipated power deficit that will affect Southern Africa next year.
HCCL managing director Godfrey Dzinomwa was quoted by the Sunday Mail as saying that HCCL has taken the lead to help power utility Zesa Holdings secure power requirements ahead of the 2007 regional deficit, ushering in a ray of hope in energy self- sufficiency.
Dzinomwa said the new mine will see the coal-mining giant increase its production output by at least 30 percent before the end of the year.
He said the first phase of the capital-intensive project would include the deploying of some of the company's mining machinery and the hiring of more equipment from earthmoving companies to complement its equipment, including the resumption of operations.
The first phase of the project will also see the new mine produce an initial output of about 50,000 tons a month.
The second phase of the project will be implemented between May and June, the HCCL boss said, adding that this would include the purchase and delivery of loading, haulage and drilling machinery, thus raising production output to anything between 100,000 tons and 120,000 tons monthly.
"Much ground work has already started towards the opening of the new opencast mine and our initial output target is at 50,000 tons a month," he said..
"This development marks our first response to the anticipated power deficit that will hit the region as we also want to be self- sustainable in terms of power generation as a country," explained Dzinomwa.
Dzinomwa added that the quality of coal from the new mine has a high grade of phosphate and sulfur content, making it of exceptional quality.
He said, however, to produce coke, the coal from the opencast mine will be mixed with that from the underground mine.
The HCCL operates an underground and opencast mine that produces five million tons of coal annually, with the present opencast mine constituting 85 percent of production output.
The company is aiming at increasing its coal production output by 50,000 tons, up from 400,000 tons, to 450,000 tons by March this year.
Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS
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