JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim- and AltX-listed Kibo Mining’s now completed restatement of its Mbeya coal resource has shown an “unexpected” 10% hike in the mineral resource of the Tanzania-based asset.
The total mineral resource increased from the 109.2-million tonnes disclosed in the 2012 resource statement to 120.8-million tonnes, comprising a measured resource of 20.9-million tonnes, 88.6-million tonnes indicated and 11.3-million tonnes inferred.
"The restated Mbeya coal resource is a further example of the Mbeya coal-to-power project (MCPP) feasibility study exceeding our expectations. The work undertaken was primarily aimed at improving confidence levels in the resource [and] to enable the mining definitive feasibility study (MDFS) to state an appropriate coal reserve,” CEO Louis Coetzee said in a statement on Monday.
“This objective was exceeded, with 91% of the total resource now in the measured and indicated categories. An unexpected 10.4% increase in the overall resource was also delivered.”
The “critical” milestone of the Mbeya coal resource restatement would provide input into the currently under way reserve statement and enable Kibo to progress the MDFS, which was on schedule.
“The restated Mbeya coal resource also provides comfort that the MCPP will have sufficient reserve capacity, subject to viable MDFS results, to satisfy the energy needs for potential future expansions of the Mbeya power plant,” Coetzee concluded.