Ancuabe is a town in eastern
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
in
Ancuabe District,
Cabo Delgado Province
Cabo Delgado is the northernmost province of Mozambique. It has an area of and a population of 2,320,261 (2017). As well as bordering Mtwara Region in the neighboring country of Tanzania, it borders the provinces of Nampula and Niassa. The reg ...
. It is the seat of the district. According to the 1997 census it has a population of 12,561.
Geography
Ancuabe is situated away from
Ntete
Ntete is a village in Ancuabe District in Cabo Delgado Province in northeastern Mozambique.
It is located away from the district capital of Ancuabe on the southwestern outskirts of the town.
Transport
The nearest airport is away at Pemba Air ...
, away from
Banjira and away from Muero.
Economy
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
plays a key role in the local economy. In 1989 the Irish-based Kenmare Resources joined the Government in a joint venture with the Mozambiquan government to exploit
graphite
Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on large ...
deposits in Ancuabe.
Graphites de Ancuabe Ltda. operated a sizeable mine and plant near Ancuabe from 1994 to 1999. The mined graphite would be transported east to the larger town of
Pemba Pemba may refer to:
__NOTOC__ Places
* Pemba Island, in Tanzania
* Pemba, Mozambique, the capital of Cabo Delgado Province
* Pemba, Zambia, a small town
Individuals
* George Pemba, South African painter
* Pemba (panda), a red panda
* Tsewang Yishe ...
on the coast where the mined material would be cut and processed. Due to a rise in graphite prices work in the mine was suspended in 1999. In 2007, the Mozambique government announced its intention to re-open the mine, depending on the supply of electricity from the Cahora Bassa dam.
Transport
The nearest airport is at
Pemba Airport, away.
References
Populated places in Ancuabe District
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