Officially opened by the country’s President Emilio Guebuza two weeks ago, the open cut mine is on track to meet its target of 5.3 million tonnes per annum of raw coal output to produce 1.7Mtpa of hard coking coal and 0.3Mtpa of thermal coal.
Construction of the main power supply for the mine is underway while the company is in discussions for offtake agreements for its separate Benga power plant project.
First-stage development of the mine-mouth power station will deliver 500 megawatts of electricity in 2013 while a further upgrade to 2000MW is on the cards.
Riversdale is continuing negotiations to access the recently completed Sena rail line to the Moatize Basin and for access through Berth 8 at Beira port.
At its Zambeze coal project in the country, Riversdale’s prefeasibility study is exploring options to best uncover the 1.7 billion tonnes of indicated coal resources.
Analysis of 50 cored holes indicates the quality is mainly hard coking coal with a secondary thermal coal fraction, with Riversdale saying the coking-thermal coal split is similar to the Benga resource.
The company is planning an infill drilling program over the 25 square kilometre target area for initial open cut mining at Zambeze.
Meanwhile, production slipped again at its 74%-owned Zululand anthracite colliery in South Africa.
Run-of-mine production was 177,401 tonnes at the mine in the March quarter, 4% below the previous quarter.
The mine suffered a setback after a combustion accident underground last year which killed one worker and injured two others, while the output from the Deep E shaft is still affected by excessive water, along with periodical gas.
The mine’s Western Extension shaft was also affected by “geological disturbances”, reducing production from this low seam area.
Riversdale’s main focus is to complete development of the Ngwabe block at the mine and so far the project is ahead of schedule for early 2011 production, as ground conditions remain consistent.
The Benga mine is 65%-owned by Riversdale and 35% by Tata Steel.
Second-stage development of the mine will lift ROM production to 10.6Mtpa by 2014 and there is potential for a final ramp-up to 20Mtpa of ROM output.
Riversdale ended March with a cash position of $255 million, only $3 million less than the end of 2009.
Shares in the company are down 2.8% this morning $9.29.
