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Mmamabula energy project, Botswana

2nd March 2012

By: Lisete Bigala

  

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Name and Location
Mmamabula Energy Project (MEP), Botswana.

Client
CIC Energy.

Project Description
CIC Energy Corporation is developing four projects at its Mmamabula coalfield. The Mmamabula coalfield comprises one exploration licence and one retention licence.

The global mineral resource estimate for the project totals about 2.4-billion tons in the measured and indicated categories (Canadian NI 43-101).

The MEP is being designed as a 1 200 MW (net) capacity plant, comprising two units of about 600 MW each and a 4.5-million-metric-sales-tons-a-year coal mine. Possible commercial operations of the MEP power station is pending reengagement with the government of South Africa following the project being put on hold in March 2011, when the Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) 2010 was announced by the government.

At full production, a total of about six-million tons of run-of-mine coal a year will be required to support the power station.

The MEP will meet World Bank environmental standards for a coal-fired power station.

In addition to the MEP, CIC Energy is also planning three additional projects at the Mmamabula coalfield. The Domestic Power Project is a planned 300 MW (gross) integrated coal mine and coal-fired base-load power plant. Meanwhile, the planned Export Coal Project is actively investigating ways to export high-grade thermal coal to international markets, while the coal-to-hydrocarbons project is intended to produce synthesis gas from coal, which can be converted to diesel fuel and other products.

Value
CIC Energy's estimated capital equipment and infrastructure costs related to the 1 200 MW (net) power station and mine was estimated at $3-billion in December 2008.

Over and above this, there would be significant additional costs for other items, such as financing fees, hedging costs, interest during construction, contingencies and other expenses.

Duration
The timeframe by which CIC Energy's MEP could be generating electricity, depends on securing a power purchase agreement from South Africa's Department of Energy.

Latest Developments
December 2011

CIC Energy has announced that it has begun discussions with potential strategic investors with the view to the acquisition of a minority position in the company.

May 2011
CIC Energy has announced that the transaction with JSW Energy will not proceed and it is opening up its data room to other potential acquires.

January 2011
CIC Energy has announced that the proposed acquisition of CIC Energy by JSW Energy has been approved by about 99.8% of the votes cast at the special meeting of the company’s shareholders held on January 21, 2011.

December 2010
In mid-December 2010, CIC Energy entered into an agreement with the Guma Group to amend certain terms of the Guma Warrant Agreement entered into by the company and Guma in April 2010, as well as the warrant certificate issued to Guma under the Guma Warrant Agreement.

The amendment agreement has allowed CIC Energy to fulfil the condition in each of its agreements with JSW Energy for CIC Energy to obtain written clarifications in respect of vesting of warrants under the Guma Warrant Agreement.
Also in mid-December 2010 CIC Energy announced that it has entered into a binding supplementary agreement with JSW Energy, which supplements the Acquisition Agreement referred to in CIC Energy’s news release of November 23, 2010.

November 2010
CIC Energy and JSW Energy entered into a binding agreement in November 2010, allowing the India-based company to purchase all of the shares in the company. The acquisition is subject to CIC Energy meeting all conditions to the offer. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of February 2011.

June 2010
CIC Energy has confirmed that the Shanghai Electric Group has agreed to sustain the fixed price for the construction of the 1 320-MW (gross) Mmamabula power station, to allow for the remaining regulatory hurdles in South Africa, where the bulk of the power could be sold, to be cleared.

The contract now extends beyond the period expected to be required for approval of the second integrated resource plan, or Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) 2010, by South Africa's Department of Energy (DoE).

The DoE has initiated consultations on the IRP2010, which will offer a 20-year generation-mix plan from 2013 onwards. The final plan is expected to be published in the Government Gazette in September.

The extension of the engineering, procurement and construction contract is a significant achievement towards maintaining the Mmamabula Energy Project in a ready mode to be able to restart project development, following the resolution of the regulatory matters in South Africa, regarding new power projects.

April 2010
CIC Energy has finalised a warrant agreement with prominent South African black economic-empowerment company Guma Group, despite having suspended its schedule for the project, pending resolution of outstanding regulatory matters in South Africa.

February 2010
CIC Energy has reiterated that it cannot proceed with the project without regulatory approvals from the government.

December 2009
South Africa's first integrated resource plan for power generation only covers new generation requirements up to March 2013, with the relevant period for the Mmamabula Energy Project (MEP) to be addressed in the second Integrated Resources Plan (IRP). IRP2010 is expected to be completed in mid-2010, after a public consultation process.

With the MEP awaiting the outcome of the regulatory approval process in the IRP2010, commercial operations are not expected to start before 2014. CIC Energy has therefore decided to defer some of the project's legal, financial and engineering activities.

Project development activities for the export coal project and the coal-to-hydrocarbons project will not be affected and will continue as planned.

On Budget and on Time?
The project's schedule was moved back a number of times.

In December 2009 the Mmamabula Energy Project (MEP) was placed on hold.

Following the announcement of the Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) 2010 in March 2011, the MEP remained on hold, as this IRP indicated there will not be an opportunity for CIC Energy to supply power to South Africa prior to 2019.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Consultants participating in the Mmamabula energy complex development have included Snowden Mining Industry Consultants (resource estimates); Environmental Resources Management (ERM) and Digby Wells & Associates (water and environmental solutions); DRA (mine beneficiation plant designs); Gibb Africa (surface water studies); Aurecon (design of common infrastructure); Clifford Chance (project legal counsel); Jacobs Engineering Group, Toyo Engineering Corporation, Lategan Bouwer Engineers (LBE) and VGI (CTH technical studies); MRN Runge and DRA (export coal project mine planning & design); Shell Global Solutions International (coal-to-hydrocarbons value-chain study), Shanghai Electric Group (SEC) (engineering, procurement and construction contract; Parsons Brinckerhoff [PB] (owner's engineer); NM Rothschild & Sons (MEP financial advisers); Absa Capital and the Standard Bank of South Africa (lead arrangers for the commercial bank facility) and the Export Credit Insurance Corporation of South Africa (debt financing).

The expected participants in the power-purchase agreements are Eskom and the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC).

Contact Details for Project Information
Aurecon Botswana office manager Stefan Kleynhans, tel +267 391 1397, fax +267 397 2950 or email botswana@af.aurecongroup.com.
BPC public relations, tel +267 360 3223 or fax +267 390 8674.
Digby Wells & Associates, tel +27 11 789 9495, fax +27 11 789 9498 or email info@digbywells.co.za.
DRA, tel +27 21 421 5146 or fax +27 21 421 5148; or Ernest Jones, cell +27 82 442 3172 or email ernestj@dract.co.za.
ERM, tel +27 11 802 8263 or fax +27 11 802 8299.
Eskom media desk, tel +27 800 3304, fax +27 11 800 3850 or email mediadesk@eskom.co.za.
Eskom national call centre, tel 0860 037 566.
Gibb, Vernon Joubert, tel +267 390 0182 or fax +267 390 0481.
Guma Group, Janet de Kretser, tel +27 11 504 4000 or email janet@bairds.co.za.
Jacobs Engineering, tel +1 626 578 3500 or fax +1 626 568 7144.
JSW Energy, Mithun Roy, tel +91 981 900 0967 or Rouhan Sharma, tel +91 986 749 0361.
LBE, Kas Lategan, tel +27 17 634 4150, fax +27 17 634 4188 or email kblategan@latbou.co.za; or Gerdus Bouwer, tel +27 12 665 3102, fax +27 12 665 5325 or email gbouwer@latbou.co.za.
PB, tel +27 11 787 4141 or fax +27 11 886 0359.
Rothschild, tel +27 11 215 6800 or fax +27 11 215 6826.
SEC, tel +86 21 520 82266, fax +86 21 520 82103 or investor relations email ir@shanghai-electric.com.
Shell investor relations, the Netherlands, tel +31 70 377 4540 or +44 20 7934 3856, or email ir-europe@shell.com; or US, tel +1 212 218 3113, fax +1 212 218 3114 or email ir-newyork@shell.com.
Snowden Mining Industry Consultants, tel +27 11 782 2379, fax +27 11 782 2396 or email johannesburg@snowdengroup.com.
Tau Capital Corp vice president of investor relations Erica Belling, tel +1 416 361 9636 or email ebelling@taucapital.com.
VGI, email info@vgi.co.za.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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