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Mmamabula coal investors list in Toronto Exchange
KETO SEGWAI
Staff Writer
3/24/2006 3:43:21 PM (GMT +2)
CIC Energy Corp, the company with the majority shareholding in the Mmamabula coalfield project, was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada on Tuesday. CIC chief operating officer, Francois Badenhorst said they instantly started trading in Toronto after the listing. He said the response has been very good and they expect it to get better. He disclosed that the corporation intends to list on the Botswana Stock Exchange soon.
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Mmamabula is the largest undeveloped high quality coal asset in Southern Africa not under control of a major mining company. The project has the capacity to support a 3,600MW power station for about 40 years. Its value is estimated at more than P20 billion. The governments of Botswana and South Africa are at an advanced stage to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote the project. Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) and Eskom of South Africa will also be signing their MoU. Meanwhile, CIC and its local partners have dismissed reports that Eskom is an investor in the Mmamabula project. Recently there were media reports of the displeasure by the South African labour unions to the effect that Eskom is a major shareholder in the project. The unions accused the South African power utility of exporting jobs to Botswana. Presently, Botswana imports 70 percent of its electricity from Eskom. Elvidge Mhlauli, the chairman of Meepong Investments, the local component of the joint venture with CIC, explained that Eskom has expressed interest in the project, but not as an investor. "They only want to get into an off-take agreement with us." Badenhorst said that Eskom is not even party to the project. "They are only interested in buying the power when the project is complete." South Africa is increasingly running out of capacity to meet growing demand.
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