LUSAKA – London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc and Singapore’s Nava Bharat Pte Ltd submitted final offers to operate Zambia’s largest coal mine and to construct a thermal power station, the mine’s owner said yesterday.
Diversified miner Vedanta and Nava Bharat have been shortlisted in October in response to the bid from ZCCM-Investments Holdings (ZCCM-IH), which wholly owns Maamba Collieries Ltd, and were asked to submit their final offers.
ZCCM-IH’s Chief Executive William Musama said the two firms had submitted their technical and financial offers and that a preferred bidder would be selected soon.
‘ZCCM-IH is pleased to announce that the offers have been submitted by Nava Bharat (Singapore) Pte Ltd, and Vedanta Resources Plc,’ Musama said in a statement, but gave no details.
The submission of offers marks the start of the final process which started in 2007, when ZCCM-IH issued a tender, asking foreign firms to submit bids for the revamping of Maamba Collieries operations and for building a power plant.
Maamba Collieries produced about 600 000 tonnes of coal per year in the 1980s, but has seen production slump to below 100 000 tonnes in recent times, due to years of undercapitalisation and operational losses.
The capacity of the thermal electric power station has previously been estimated at 300-350 megawatts.
Initially 10 firms submitted bids to develop the power station and to be equity partner in the coal mine. Vedanta is already the majority shareholder in Konkola Copper Mines, Zambia’s largest copper producer.
Maamba Collieries has 78 million tonnes known coal reserves due to last over 70 years while the coal mine has capacity to produce up to one million tonnes of coal a year, officials say.
– Nampa-Reuters
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