Lemur Resources, a private company with plans to build a coal-to-power plant in Madagascar, said discussions with the African country regarding obtaining a concession for the coal mine were at a progressed stage.
This follows a 30-year Power Purchasing Agreement which was signed between Lemur and Madagascar’s state-owned power utility, JIRAMA, in November. Lemur is also involved in a social and environmental impact study related to the project, known as Imaloto. Completion of the study is earmarked for this year.
“The design and location of the project would immediately increase the country’s baseload power supply by approximately 15%, with the option to scale up to supply more power to new electricity users in the region in the longer term,” said Fortune Mojapelo, CEO of Bushveld Minerals that controls Lemur Resources.
Lemur Resources is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bushveld Minerals Limited (LON:BMN) and is the company’s coal and power platform. The Imaloto Project is located in the southwest of Madagascar and consists of a 136 million tonne coal resource (90 per cent of which is of JORC compliant Measured and Indicated). The Project also includes an initial 60MW mine mouth coal power plant as well as over 200km of new transmission lines, developed in parallel as one of Madagascar’s leading independent power producers.