Coal Mining in Kenya teams up with China’s Fenixi Mining Group
After many disputes by locals in the Kenyan mining area regarding coal mining in Kenya and its relevant issues such as compensation and relocation it looks like the east African country is finally going to partner with China’s Fenixi Mining Group by the end of the year (2013) to plan and implement mining operations on two blocks situated in the easterly in the Africa country.
The official signing of the coal mining in Kenya joint venture will take place by the December this year (2013). The agreement had the consensus that Fenxi Mining would pay the government $3-million for Block C and $500 000 for Block D, in return for a renewable concession of 21 years. The contract also stated that Kenya’s government is provided with an 11% participation in the operation, sharing gross revenues of 23.6% for Block C and 21.1% for Block D.
Kenya aims to extract a minimum of 400-million tonnes of coal from the Mui basin from Block C. This will help save foreign exchange by reducing coal and oil imports.
Earlier this year Kenya’s government invited bids to build a 900 MW to 1 000 MW coal power plant in the coastal region Lamu as part of coal mining in Kenya, where the government plans to develop a $5.5-billion mega port that will link South Sudan and Ethiopia to the Indian Ocean.
On top of extracting coal, Kenya aims to extract natural gas and geothermal power to boost its power production to 5 000 MW by 2017 from roughly 1 664 MW at present.
