In line with the group’s increased focus on the energy sector, South African consulting engineering consultancy SRK Consulting has increased its coal exploration activities in Mozambique’s Tete province.
Although progress in the region is steady, the company reports that a few challenges need to be managed.
Tete, which lies south-west of the Cahora Bassa dam, on the Zambezi river, boasts summer temperatures that often exceed 50 ºC, with 90% humidity. The rainy season, which runs from November to March, limits exploration work, particularly drilling. As a result, much of the work can only be undertaken from the end of March to October.
SRK recently completed a regional geological evaluation, a coal geology evaluation and the scoping of further exploration studies for Mozambican-registered company Black Gold Mining.
This undertaking, which required an evaluation of previous exploration work, leading to an interpretation of potential target areas for further exploration, was used by the client for marketing purposes.
One of SRK’s ongoing pro- jects is Strata Capital’s Ncondezi coal project, also situated in Tete.
The project required an evaluation of previous exploration work leading to an interpretation of potential target areas for further work and the design of a suitable exploration programme. Landsat and aeromagnetic interpretations, as well as aerial photography interpretations, have been done to determine the extent of coal-bearing strata and the structural regime. The team has designed a drilling programme based on the results of the interpretations. When drilling is complete, a three-dimensional geological model and coal resource evaluation will be done.
SRK reports that the Osho group has 33 prospects and concessions throughout Mozam-bique, of which the majority are for coal. The projects stretch from just south of Maputo to the Tanzanian border, to as far east as the top of Crook’s Corner of the Kruger National Park and Tete, through to the coast of Mozambique. This exciting project requires evaluation and recommendations for further work. It is a greenfield project, carried out in extremely remote areas with virtually no infrastructure.
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