Tanzania has announced plans to complete the upgrading of the processing plant in its Rukwa coal project by end of September. This is according to Edenville Energy, the company in charge of the project who said the plant will allow for increased throughput.
The company stated that after reviewing a number of options for acquiring a pre-screening plant to remove the majority of coal fines before reaching the washing circuit, both in Tanzania and overseas, a suitable configuration was selected.
Edenenville Energy further said the equipment is already in Tanzania, adding that it negates the need to ship and import. However, construction and commissioning are expected to be completed on site over the next six to eight weeks.
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The Rukwa coal plant
A Lamella clarifier water treatment plant is also nearing the completion of its assembly stage and will be installed on site for commissioning, which is scheduled for later this month.
The Rukwa coal plant processed about 17 530 t of run-of-mine (RoM) coal, producing 5259 of washed coal and 7639 t of fine cal from May 25 to August 9. Out of the 5259 of washed coal, 3231 t have already been sold and shipped. This equates to an average daily throughput of RoM coal of about 230 t from May 25 to August 9, with average daily sale shipments of 43 t. For July, the average daily sale shipments were 51 t.
The amount shipped on an average basis in August is however expected to increase further based on the current order pipeline. Edenville said this figures compares to the average daily throughput of RoM coal of 143 t from January 1 to May 24 and average daily sale shipments over this period of 22 t.
Updated mining plan
Other developments are also underway with a second excavator working in the Namwele area, where about 3000 t of coal has been already mined.
Edenville says they expect to have an updated mining plan completed in September, which will allow work to start on opening up new seams found to the north of the current as the results of the on-site laboratory analysis are encouraging, showing material with a high calorific value of over 6000 kcal/kg on a washed basis.
The firm is now at advanced stages of negotiation with several long-term contracts for coal supply, adding that although there are no guarantees that these contracts will be secured, the plant upgrade will allow for future production.
Edenville Energy have had their Rukwa CPP tender rejected without explanation decimating their Mcap.
Coal production by Edenville Energy seems to be far lower than their forecast rate of production despite plant upgrades. Poor sales are taking them to bankruptcy. I am a long term shareholder in EDL.
I would like to keep abreast of the mine development in order to pursue economic opportunities in the spirit of enhancing local content/ PPP scenarios.