The three licenses in the expansion program include the 37.5sq.km Mwenewenya property, 12sq.km at Mwapu and an area of 35sq.km at the mission settlement of Livingstonia.

The recently renewed mining licence covers 2sq.km adjacent to the Mwenewenya tenement.

The company said its expansion effort reflected a broader regional strategy for east Africa which included establishing a representative office in Malawi capital Lilongwe.

Earlier this week, Intra attended the inaugural mining governance and growth support project held in Lilongwe where executive director Jonathan Warrand presented the company’s coal development plan to Malawi President Joyce Banda.

The company’s mining and exploration leases and recent approval for expansion works at the Nkhachira site were granted under government support for coal-fired electricity initiatives in the power-hungry country.

“According to the World Bank, only 8 per cent of Malawi’s population of approximately 16 million people has access to electricity,” Intra chairman Graeme Robertson said.

“Malawi’s total demand for power currently stands at 300 megawatts, resulting in a generation shortfall.

“This shortfall is projected to grow rapidly and the Malawi Ministry of Energy estimates that the country will need 603MW by 2015 and 829MW by 2020.”