Mmamabula

Mmamabula be a planned coal mine den coal-fired power station to de east of de main road den rail corridor insyd Botswana between Gaborone den Francistown den south of de Serorome River. Na de power station go be near to de village of Mmaphashalala. E be about  north of de capital city of Gaborone.

 Coalfield 
Dem dey consider de Mmamabula coalfield e be a western extension of de Waterberg Coalfield insyd de Ellisras Basin insyd South Africa, to de east, wich dey contain about 40% of South Africa ein coal resources. CIC Energy of Canada own two prospecting licences insyd de coal field wey na dem conduct extensive exploratory drilling between 2005 den 2012. De portions of de coalfield for wich na CIC Energy hold licences dem estimate e get 2.4 billion tonnes of thermal coal of a quality suitable for export, for local power generation den for coal gasification. Na deposits be roughly 360 million tonnes insyd de Central block, 643 million tonnes insyd de Western block, den 1,392 million tonnes insyd de Eastern block. De South block, wich dey lie on both sides of de road den rail corridor, be estimated to hold anoda 311 million tonnes of coal.

 Initial mining den power plan 
De planned Serorome coal mine go be insyd de Central Block, wey dey supply 4.7 million metric sales tonnes annually for at least thirty years to de planned 1,200 MW Mmamabula power station. Dem go use open cast mining for 30% of de area, den underground bord and pillar mining for de remainder. Water from de Dikgatlhong Dam, dem plete insyd 2012, na dem expect am to supply de coalfield den power station via de North-South Carrier pipeline. Insyd March 2009, na CIC Energy announce say e sign a contract plus Shanghai Electric as contractor for engineering, procurement den construction of de Mmamabula Energy Project (MEP), plus commercial operations dem expect to start four years after na dem arrange financing. De same month na CIC Energy submit bids to Eskom of South Africa den Botswana Power Corporation to supply electricity.

South Africa get a target date to gazette dema Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) by September 2010. Dis go lay out South Africa ein strategy for meeting new energy needs from 2013 dey go, dem assume to include new government-owned facilities den contracts plus private suppliers such as CIC Energy. Na South Africa say dem no fi commit to any Power Purchasing Agreement (PPA) plus CIC before na dem approve de IRP. De delay go affect Botswana, wich dem need a portion of de plant ein output to meet projected demand. Na dem eventually plete de IRP insyd May 2011. Na e no include any window for purchase of power from Mmamabula before 2019, wey then na de amounts dem purchase go be less dan 1200 MW. Na dem force CIC Energy to put de project on hold after dem invest over C$100 million.

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Category:Coal-fired power stations insyd Botswana
Category:Coal mines insyd Botswana