Newcrest Development Ltd seeks coal mining licence

Nqobile Bhebhe, [email protected]

Newcrest Development (Private) Limited has lodged an application with the Mining Affairs Board for an Exclusive Prospecting Order (EPO) for coal in Kamativi, in the Matabeleland North Mining District.

EPOs confer exclusive rights to prospect for specified minerals in any identified location within Zimbabwe and are critical in allowing international mineral explorers to scan through the country in search of minerals and produce bankable exploration results that can attract investment.

According to a recent Government Gazette General Notice 1892 of 2023, the Chairman of the Mining Affairs Board, Mr Pfungwa Kunaka, who is also the Mines and Mining Development Permanent Secretary said Newcrest Development (Private) Limited intends to prospect for coal within the area which has been reserved against prospecting pending determination of this application.

Prospecting authority is sought upon registered base mineral blocks within the reservation.

“It is hereby notified, in terms of section 87(4) of the Mines and Minerals Act (Chapter 21:05), that Newcrest Development (Private) Limited has applied to the Mining Affairs Board for an exclusive prospecting order, over an area described in the Schedule, in the Matabeleland North Mining District, in relation to map reference Kamativi SE-35-11 Edition 2 and of the scale 1: 250 000, produced by the Surveyor-General,” reads part of the general notice.

Zimbabwe boasts of huge coal deposits in Matabeleland North province where companies such as Hwange Colliery and Makomo Resources and Muchesu Coal Mine are active, and is seeking to maximise mineral exploitation to reboot its economy.

However, the country’s full potential is yet to be exploited.

Mining is strategic to Zimbabwe’s plans to grow and turn around the economy with the sector accounting for over 60 percent of the country’s export receipts and contributing 16 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Coal mining is expected to contribute significantly to the realisation of the US$12 billion mining industry by the end of this year.

AfDB grants Kenya US79,6m for economic recovery

The African Development Bank granted Kenya a €73 million (US$79,6m) loan to aid Phase III of the Competitiveness and Economic Recovery Support Programme, with the funding extending through the fiscal year 2023-2024.

This was revealed in a meeting of the board of directors of the African Development Bank in Abidjan on 29 November 2023.

The loan is intended to build resilience and support inclusive post-Covid-19 economic recovery, by improving economic governance and boosting industrial development and competitiveness.

Nnenna Nwabufo, the Bank Group’s Director-General for East Africa said “Kenya is pursuing the vigorous recovery of its economy after the Covid-19 pandemic and is currently faced with significant shocks. The country is facing its worst drought in 40 years and the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine,”

She noted that “This additional €73 million in financing, approved today by the Bank’s Board of Directors, will enable the country to consolidate the progress it has already made and allow the Government to have fiscal space to deal with the impact of external shocks,”

The program will support Kenya’s medium- and long-term development across three key components: ensuring fiscal consolidation for the sustainability of public finances, strengthening industrial development and competitiveness, and promoting economic and social inclusion. According to AfDB, the programme is designed as a programmatic General Budget Support operation, and phase I and II have enabled the Kenyan Government to fill the funding gaps for the fiscal years 2021/22 and 2022/23, enabling it to carry out post-Covid-19 economic recovery.-Business Insider Africa