Aim- and JSE-listed Kibo Energy’s share price on the LSE increased by 10.69% on Wednesday morning after the company announced that the Mbeya coal mine, which comprises the mining component of the Mbeya coal-to-power project (MCPP), has been recommended for the grant of a special mining licence (SML) from the Mining Commission of Tanzania.
Kibo has also submitted a request to the Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (Tanesco) for further clarification on the potential impact of the tender process for coal power projects on Kibo’s ongoing power purchase agreement negotiations with Tanesco.
This request, the Africa-focused coal miner explained on Wednesday, was done in respect of the company’s MCPP in the Songwe district of south-western Tanzania.
In the meantime, the company has engaged in the tender process and has already obtained the relevant documentation for the submission of the tender qualification as stipulated in the invitation for qualification.
The company’s current understanding of the broad technical criteria outlined in the documentation shows that Kibo qualifies on each of these aspects and is at a significantly more advanced development stage with regard to most of the minimum requirements contained therein, said Kibo.
Receipt of the SML would be a further ticked box in the MCPP’s development plan, commented Kibo CEO Louis Coetzee.
He added that while timelines could be affected by Tanesco’s recent initiation of a tender process, the strong fundamentals of the project remain unaffected.
“The MCPP is a key energy project positioned to help alleviate Tanzania’s acute power deficit. With local, governmental and international support, we remain focused and confident on advancing the project through the very last steps of the planning and development phase to first power production,” Coetzee said.
The company remains on course to deliver the MCPP and its two other utility-scale projects in Botswana and Mozambique, he averred.
Kibo’s shares increased to 3.62p on Wednesday morning, up nearly 11% compared with Tuesday’s close of 3.28p a share.