Tete Province
Licence Locations
The Ncondezi Group’s licences are located in the Zambesi Basin in the Tete Province, which is situated in the north-west of Mozambique.
The map below highlights the position of the Tete Province in Mozambique as well as the Ncondezi Group's licences and other licence holders in the Tete Province.
Source: MINUSTAH GIS and UN Cartographic Section and SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd
The provincial capital of Tete lies on the west bank of the Zambezi River and in 2010 is estimated to have a population of approximately 170,000. The local airport in Tete provides access to daily commercial flights to and from Maputo and Johannesburg, South Africa. The Cahora Bassa hydroelectric scheme, the biggest of such schemes in Southern Africa, is also situated in the region. The coal mining town of Moatize on the east bank of the Zambezi River, lies 17 km east of Tete on National Road 103 (EN103) that leads east towards licences 804L and 805L; collectively the Ncondezi Project.
Provincial Capital Tete (looking west over the Zambezi River)
The Ncondezi Project is located at 15°52’0.00 S 33°54’36.00E, approximately 40km northeast of the provincial capital Tete, and 10km from the Sena railway, in a region known locally as the Minjova area. The Ncondezi Project covers an area of approximately 38,700ha and is accessed through several dirt roads and bulldozed tracks.
Licences 1314L and 1315L are located further from the city of Tete and the associated infrastructure. License 1314L is located 130km south of Tete on the border with Zimbabwe, and has a total area of 17,380 hectares. License 1315L is located 320km north-west of Tete on the north shore of Cahora Basa Lake, and has a total area of 17,080 hectares.
Regional Background
The coal in Mozambique’s Tete Province has been known about for many years, as the artist/explorer Thomas Baines is reported to have first painted a coal outcrop on the banks of the Zambezi in the late 1850s. In late 2004, a consortium of companies headed by the major mining company Vale won the right to develop the Moatize coal deposit.
The allocation of the tender award to Vale opened the way for smaller investors, and exploration and development within the region has accelerated since then. Currenty, Vale’s Moatize and Riversdale’s Benga projects are the most developed with first production of export coking and thermal coals planned for the second half of 2011. Both companies have made significant capital investment in the region with Vale’s Moatize project budgeted at US$1.3 billion and phase I of Riversdale’s Benga project, held in a joint venture with Tata Steel Ltd, budgeted at US$260 million.
In addition to Vale and Riversdale, other companies developing projects in the region include Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation PLC (“ENRC”), Coal India Ltd, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd and Beacon Hill Resources PLC.