By Kingsley Jassi:
The Ministry of Mining has stepped in to facilitate expeditions of the processes that will lead to commissioning of heavy mineral sands mine in the remote area of Makanjira in Mangochi District.
The government granted a mining license to a Chinese mining company, Mawei, in 2017 following its exploration works at the site since 2009. But power and transportation challenges have been standing in the way.
However, according to Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Mining Joseph Mkandawire, the government has facilitated an agreement with Malawi Lake Services to allocate a vessel that will carry heavy machinery to the site.
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“We have engaged Malawi Lake Services to use some sort of a ship called Phantom to carry the heavy equipment. We have also been in talks with Escom to provide at least one megawatts of electricity,” said Mkandawire.
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Eight years after the company secured the license, there is now hope that the proposed mine will come to life. The World Bank estimates total revenue of up to $1 billion in the mine life.
Makanjira, is over 100 kilometers away from Mangochi boma and has impassable roads especially during rain seasons, making it difficult to transport equipment for the construction of the mine.
Mkandawire further said an approval, after discussions with the Ministry of Energy, has been secured for the mining company to use heavy fuel oil (HFO), also known as residual and is commonly used to power ships.
“This is to ensure that there should not be any increased demand for diesel as the country is already facing challenges of fuel so they’ll use heavy fuel oil to power the mine,” said Mkandawire.
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Earlier, the company mentioned that the arrangement to power the mine using petroleum fuel is temporary measures to kick start the mining operations as eventually, they anticipate Escom power to be connected to the site.
The Makanjira heavy mineral sands mine project has reserves estimated at 355 million and studies project a mine life of 23 years with the ore containing ilmenite, magnetite, zircon, rutile and monazite.
Mawei requires about 3 megawatts of electricity to power the mine in the initial phase of the operations before an upscale increase the power demand to 10 megawatts.
