LONDON (Alliance News) - Edenville Energy PLC on Monday said it has received the second set of results from the bulk-sampling programme conducted at the Mkomolo and Namwele deposits in western Tanzania.
The second set of results cover seam MK1 and follow on from the results of sampling of seam MK2 that were published in the middle of November.
The two deposits form part of the company's Rukwa coal-to-power project that is not only developing a coal mine but also a power plant that will use the coal to supply energy to the country's population.
Edenville said the results from MK1 have confirmed the coal is suitable to feed a power plant and said only moderate, and in some cases, no washing will be required for MK1 to be used in the combustion process in a coal-fired thermal power plant.
Where washing is required, Edenville said high yields of approximately 60% are confirmed as "achievable to produce a high-quality power-plant feed product".
"The results from the sampling and wash tests of MK1 further support and validate the results from MK2 and the recently constructed financial model and resource technical assessment," said the miner.
"The two seams opened up so far in South Mkomolo have demonstrated very good values and wash yields for coal ideally suited for the proposed power plant. Assuming the yields can be translated into production, this will have a significant positive impact on the economics of the project," said Chief Executive Rufus Short.
"This was very near surface coal and once through the weathered zones the potential for even better qualities is there," he added. "Additionally the seams also contain significant quantities of higher energy value coal above 20 megajoules per kilogramme, suitable for sale into local and regional industrial applications, and we are in advanced discussions with potential customers to open up production in 2017."
The confirmation that the coal can be used to feed its own power plant in addition to supplying other local markets, and potentially feeding third-party owned power plants, means Edenville could have numerous sources of revenue when the project is up and running.
Edenville also said it has identified large areas to the north in Mkomolo that contain high-value coal that could be sold to markets rather than be used as part of the Rukwa project.
Edenville shares were trading 1.0% higher on Monday morning at 0.454 pence per share.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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