Edenville Energy moving forward with Rukwa coal project

Edenville Energy plc has announced the company has made significant progress to its Rukwa coal to power project, located in southwest Tanzania.

Edenville has indicated that over the past months, several ares of the power plant have made major progress. A new Tanzanian company, Edenville Power Tanzania Ltd (EPTL) has been established to advance the power project. EPTL is 100% owned and controlled by Edenville and will be the principal vehicle to advance the power plant along its path to development, construction and ultimately operation.

The project concept note (PCN) on the power plant development, which started in July 2015 as part of the formal review process, has subsequently been reviewed and accepted by the Tanzania Electric Supply Company Ltd (Tanesco). Updated documents, including the PCN, have now been reviewed and accepted by Tanesco, which allows both the company and Tanesco to move to the next stage of the power plant development process.

Registration of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) certificate application and project brief for the power plant has been completed with the National Environment Management Council (NEMC). The power plant project is now registered with NEMC and is currently proceeding with the process towards full environmental compliance. This includes submission of the appropriate details concerning the fuel source for the project, i.e. Edenville's coal deposit at its Rukwa site.

As the coal mine pre-development work is now significantly advanced with both an EIA and mining licence already granted, Edenville expects to complete the NEMC requirements on the fuel source in short order. Following this, work will be concentrated on completing the EIA application to gain full environmental compliance for the power plant. The company’s environmental consultants, Tansheq, are already involved in this process and Edenville has available additional resources for this task should they be required.

Rockface Capital, a consultant to the company, has made significant progress in its work to find suitable partners and capital to advance a combined coal-to-power project. Rockface is in current discussions with a number of power plant developers, all with extensive expertise in coal-fired thermal power plant development. The groups have capital available to contribute to the cost of bringing the project to construction. Discussions are underway with development groups from China, Korea, USA and Europe. Site visits with interested parties are now commencing.

Rufus Short, CEO and Chairman of Edenville, commented: "Over the past several months, we have achieved several key milestones, with the company, alongside Tanesco, establishing the framework to move the Rukwa coal to power project forward with the completion of the PCN review process.”

Short continued: “The project has now reached the critical point where the technical, financial and commercial requirements can be completed, in line with the timeframes and conditions set out by the Tanzanian authorities, as we also seek to secure the project finance. The completion of both the EIA and Mining Licence for the mine allows the power plant section of the project to proceed at a faster rate as a large proportion of the obligations concerning the fuel source have been completed.”

“I look forward to updating our shareholders with further news as enter this exciting phase for the project," concluded Short.

Edited from press release by Harleigh Hobbs

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/exploration-development/27052016/edenville-energy-moving-forward-with-rukwa-coal-project-852/