afrol News, 11 January - Riversdale Mining has announced it has received the approval of its mining activities in Mozambique following the completition an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) last year.

The company said in a statement that its Benga coal project in the Tete province, will now proceed.

In October last year, Riversdale and its partners committed some US$ 270 million for the initial stages of development of the mine, which is expected to produce up to 1,7-million tons a year of high quality coal.

The company would further invest an estimated $150 million for the expansion of the mining activities, which would see the mine produce up to 10,6-million tons a year of hard coking coal and two-million tons a year thermal coal. The final expansion programme aims at producing at least 20 million tons a year of coal.

Once in operation, the company expects that the first coking coal exports from the mine would start in 2011.

The Benga project is said to have a coal resource of four-billion tons, while its adjacent Zambeze project, also a project of Riversdale, had a resource of 1,7-billion tons.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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