Mozambique Mining Industry: As expected, China-Mozambique partnership granted coal mining concession

The concession granted to Kingho Mozambique for coal mining in the Moatize district of Tete province, has a 25-year lifetime, the Mozambican Natural Resources Minister said at the event to found the company.

Minister Esperança Bias also said that the length of the concession – 25 years – is based on the capacity found during the prospecting and surveying stage of the project.

Kingho Mozambique is a partnership between China’s Kingho Investment Co., with 80 percent of the capital, and state companies Empresa Moçambicana de Exploração Mineira (EMEM) and Monte Binga, with 10 percent each.

Cited by daily newspaper Notícias, the minister also said that the Chinese company was the partnership’s largest shareholder as it provided all the investment for the prospecting stage as well as construction of the processing facilities as well as everything needed to mine the coal.

“The Chinese company has operated in the country since 2010, when it started prospecting for coal and, once it found it in the Marara area, Kingho Investment Co. invited national companies to take part in the project,” said Bias.

Bias said she was happy that the company had been founded and that this was the first of several areas that would be granted to the new company.

In the partnership agreement the companies have committed to carry out a project that includes design, financing, ownership and exploration of a coal mine and installation of processing equipment in the Moatize district of Tete province.