Mozambi owns 609sq.km of coal exploration projects targeting 5-6 billion tonnes of thermal and coking coal in an area the explorer touts as one of the world’s largest undeveloped coal basins.

To date, more than 23Bt of coal deposits have been identified in Tete province’s Zambeze region where Vale and Rio Tinto among others have already established significant coal holdings.

The company targeted coal at its Muturara project to range between 2.9-3.6Bt. The Songo and Tete West projects were targeted for 1.9-2.3Bt and 216-270 million tonnes of coal respectively.

Exploration at Songo has focused on the southeast section of the 224sq.km license and has included three drill holes for a total of 1310m of scout drilling with no coal samples collected yet.

Mozambi said realizing targets at Songo will depend on the thickness of the main lower measures which have been estimated at 40-50m thick.

At Muturara, airborne geophysical surveying has been completed and environmental approval has been granted for a drilling program which will involve an estimated 3000-5000m of core drilling.

At Tete West has included a five-hole program of 1365m already completed will be followed by systematic wide spaced drilling to determine the extent of the coal-bearing stratigraphy.

Recent infrastructure improvements in the region were also noted as the Sena and Nacala rail lines both record upgraded capacity.

Major port developments in Beira, Savane and Nacala include a new coal terminal and a 25Mt per annum capacity jetty.

Target export capacity for the region is 55Mtpa by 2025.