Emerging midtier mining company Riversdale Mining is expecting the bankable feasibility study of its Benga coal project, in Mozambique, to be completed by the end of this quarter, with full production and first shipment expected by the end of 2010, says Riversdale Mining CEO Michael O’Keeffe.

The company is developing its Benga opencut coal project in the coal-rich Moatize basin of Mozambique, and expects that it will be exporting six-million tons of hard coking coal and two-million tons of thermal coal from the Port of Beira by the latter half of 2010.

Riversdale is one of several companies exploring the coal reserves in Tete, regarded as one of the last large unexploited coal basins in the world. The com- pany’s Mozambique tenement areas comprise 22 licences and are in excess of 250 000 ha, positioning the company as the largest tenement holder in the Tete Moatize area, with an extensive area capable of supporting long-life operations. The tenement is held in joint venture with Indian steel giant Tata Steel, which holds a 35% interest.

The Benga coal deposits account for around 5% of the area in Tete, for which Riversdale holds exploration licences. Drilling at the Benga tenement is intended to provide improved technical, structural, and coal-quality definition in prepara- tion for mining. The total coal resource in Benga is estimated to be 2,1-billion tons. Of this, 1,76-million tons is less than 500-m deep, which is suited to opencut mining. Being so near to the surface will make it among the lowest-cost coking coal in the world.

“The Benga exploration effort is to now shift from resource assessment to mine development drilling, specifically orientated to providing detailed data for mine design, scheduling and, ultimately, for the production of proven and probable recoverable mine reserves,” says O’Keeffe.

Based on the initial washability analysis results, the potential coal products, after beneficiation, include the export of hard coking coal at 10% ash, secondary thermal coal product, consisting of an export thermal coal (about 20% ash) and a domestic thermal coal (about 35% ash).

The company is also currently drilling the 946 lease, which is contiguousto the Benga project and has multipit potential with sea freight advantages into Brazil, India and Europe. The region is within economic reach of the East African coast, with access to the Port of Beira by means of a railway line from Moatize. This line is currently being rehabilitated and is scheduled to be operational from mid- 2009. Riversdale South Africa finance manager Steve Thomas adds: “There’s a huge amount of money that’s got to be expended on the railway lines and port.” The government of Mozam-bique and the World Bank fund- ing have committed to the development of key infrastructure.

Coal exports by the various operators in the region are expected to exceed the rail capa- city of the Sena railway line, which links the coal basin to the Port of Beira, and the port’s terminal capacity. As a result, Riversdale is investigating the option of using coal barges to ship the coal to the mouth of the Zambezi river, and then load it onto floating platforms, which are taken onto the high sea and transferred to the holds of large ocean vessels.

Riversdale Mining has appointed mineral processing solutions company Sedgman to undertake a design and implementation agreement for a coal handling and preparation plant at the Benga coal project. The agreement will cover all coal handling infrastructure requirements for the initial 800-t/h facility and the expansion of the total plant to 3 000 t/h. The agreement includes all materials, plant and equipment associated with the construction of new facilities.

Riversdale intends building the initial facility in 2009 to support the company’s hard coking and thermal coking coal project with a view to scaling up the facility to handle up to 3 000 t/h by 2012. O’Keeffe adds: “The appointment of Sedgman and the planning for the coal handling and preparation plant are another important step for Riversdale Mining and Tata Steel and reaffirm the commitment we have given the government of Mozambique.”

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