JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Dual-listed Kibo Mining says it is near concluding a power purchase agreement (PPA), as well as securing project financing for its Mbeya coal-to-power project (MCPP) in Tanzania.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU), as a precursor to a final PPA with Tanzania power utility Tanesco, has passed all the relevant legislative stages and is awaiting final confirmation from Tanzania’s Attorney General.
Once signed, the MoU will provide a fixed framework within which the fundamental commercial and technical components of the PPA will be negotiated and agreed.
Meanwhile, Kibo is also in advanced negotiations with potential project level investors, after several international engineering, procurement and construction companies, power infrastructure developers and financing conglomerates expressed an interest in providing full project level equity funding for the MCPP.
“Having so many global powerhouses expressing a keen interest to partner with us is a fantastic validation of Kibo, the work we've done at the MCPP and the inherent value of the project.
“With the final negotiation of the PPA approaching, full feasibility studies complete and development finance on its way to being secured, this nationally significant project is reaching a tipping point that I believe will see stakeholders rewarded,” CEO Louis Coetzee said on Monday.
The MCPP includes a planned 1.5-million-tonne-a-year coal mine and a 300 MW mine-mouth power station.