JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Tanzania-focused mineral exploration and development company Kibo Mining will soon start the formal engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) bid process for the power plant and coal mine components of its Mbeya coal-to-power project (MCPP).
The company last month met with potential bidder Sepco III in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to initiate the EPC bid process for the power plant component, in line with the provisions of a joint development agreement (JDA) between Kibo and Sepco III.
This would be followed by a two-day work session in Brussels, Belgium, later this month, during which Tractebel Engineering, which would supervise the bid process, would brief and guide Sepco III on the EPC bid process and procedure in accordance with the JDA.
The first step in this process would require Sepco III to agree and commit to an equity investment in the MCPP in order to obtain the right to be the sole EPC bidder for the Mbeya power plant contract.
Should it be named the sole bidder, Sepco III’s bid would remain subject to various preconditions related to price and technical and operational standards, besides others, which had to be met for the EPC contract to be awarded.
Meanwhile, Kibo said the EPC bid process for the Mbeya coal mine was also under way, with the first budget quotations from eight bidders expected on Friday.
“The MCPP is now speeding towards completion of the integrated bankable feasibility study and we are pleased with progress, but more so with the results from the power definitive feasibility study, as well as the preliminary results from the mining definitive feasibility study,” said Kibo CEO Louis Coetzee.