Mmamabula is a planned coal mine and coal-fired power station to the east of the main road and rail corridor in
Botswana
Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...
between
Gaborone
Gaborone ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 421,907 inhabitants at the 2011 census.
Gaboron ...
and
Francistown
Francistown is the second largest city in Botswana, with a population of about 103,417 and 147,122 inhabitants for its agglomeration at the 2022 census. and often described as the "''Capital of the North''" or as the natives would have it “''T ...
and south of the
Serorome River
The Serorome River is a river in the Central District of Botswana, a tributary of the Limpopo River.
Geology
At one time the western Kalahari Region was a large, shallow inland lake, draining into the Limpopo through the Serorome Valley.
Later ...
.
The power station would be near to the village of
Mmaphashalala.
It is about north of the capital city of Gaborone.
Coalfield
The Mmamabula coalfield is considered to be a western extension of the
Waterberg Coalfield in the
Ellisras Basin
The Ellisras Basin is a geological basin that spans the border between South Africa and Botswana, extending west from the town of Lephalale (formerly Ellisras) in Limpopo province. Basin fill consists of sedimentary rocks of the Karoo Supergroup ...
in South Africa, to the east, which contains about 40% of South Africa's coal resources. CIC Energy of Canada owned two prospecting licences in the coal field and conducted extensive exploratory drilling between 2005 and 2012. The portions of the coalfield for which CIC Energy held licences are estimated to have 2.4 billion tonnes of thermal coal of a quality suitable for export, for local power generation and for coal gasification. Deposits were roughly 360 million tonnes in the Central block, 643 million tonnes in the Western block, and 1,392 million tonnes in the Eastern block.
The South block, which lies on both sides of the road and rail corridor, is estimated to hold another 311 million tonnes of coal.
Initial mining and power plan
The planned Serorome coal mine would be in the Central Block, supplying 4.7 million metric sales tonnes annually for at least thirty years to the planned 1,200 MW Mmamabula power station. Open cast mining would be used for 30% of the area, and underground
bord and pillar mining for the remainder.
Water from the
Dikgatlhong Dam
The Dikgatlhong Dam is a dam near the village of Robelela on the Shashe River in Botswana, completed in December 2011.
When full it will hold .
The next largest dam in Botswana, the Gaborone Dam, has capacity of .
Purpose
The dam is located on t ...
, completed in 2012, was expected to supply the coalfield and power station via the
North-South Carrier
The North-South Carrier (NSC) is a pipeline in Botswana that carries raw water south for a distance of to the capital city of Gaborone.
Phase 1 was completed in 2000.
Phase 2 of the NSC, under construction, will duplicate the pipeline to carry ...
pipeline.
In March 2009, CIC Energy announced that it had signed a contract with
Shanghai Electric
Shanghai Electric (officially Shanghai Electric Group Company Limited) is a Chinese multinational power generation and electrical equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Shanghai. The company traces its roots to 1880.
Shanghai Electri ...
as contractor for engineering, procurement and construction of the Mmamabula Energy Project (MEP), with commercial operations expected to start four years after financing had been arranged.
The same month CIC Energy submitted bids to Eskom of South Africa and Botswana Power Corporation to supply electricity.
South Africa had a target date to gazette their Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) by September 2010.
This would lay out South Africa's strategy for meeting new energy needs from 2013 onward, assumed to include new government-owned facilities
and contracts with private suppliers such as CIC Energy.
South Africa said they could not commit to any Power Purchasing Agreement (PPA) with CIC before the IRP was approved.
The delay would affect Botswana, which needed a portion of the plant's output to meet projected demand.
The IRP was eventually completed in May 2011.
It did not include any window for purchase of power from Mmamabula before 2019,
and then the amounts purchased would be less than 1200 MW.
CIC Energy was forced to put the project on hold after investing over C$100 million.
Later developments
Early in 2011 it was reported that
JSW Energy
JSW Energy Limited is an Indian power company engaged in power generation, transmission and trading. It is part of JSW Group.
In 2015, JSW Energy acquired two of Jaypee Group's hydropower plants, with a combined capacity of 1,391 MW, for 9,700 ...
of India would take over Mmamabula. This took place in 2012.
JSW Energy is a subsidiary of the
Jindal Group
Jindal is a often used as a family name.
* O. P. Jindal, Indian industrialist and parliamentarian
* Savitri Jindal, chairperson emeritus of Jindal Steel and Power
* Bobby Jindal, politician and former Governor of Louisiana, United States
* P ...
, chaired by
Sajjan Jindal
Sajjan Jindal (born 5 December 1959) is an Indian billionaire industrialist. He is the chairman and managing director of JSW Group of companies; diversified in steel, mining, energy, sports, infrastructure and, software business.
For 2021-202 ...
.
Later there was speculation that the Chinese would be in the market for the asset.
However, lack of high-capacity access to port facilities would be a drawback in exporting coal.
A pre-feasibility study for building infrastructure to export 10 million tonnes of coal yearly via
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
gave estimates of US$2.5 billion for a 1,500 km new railway and US $1.1 billion for a coal terminal and new port facility in either
Lüderitz
Lüderitz is a town in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia. It lies on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is a port developed around Robert Harbour and Shark Island.
The town is known for its colonial architecture, includ ...
or
Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay ( en, lit. Whale Bay; af, Walvisbaai; ger, Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The ci ...
.
CIC Energy continued to search for a partner or purchaser.
In March 2012 the Dutch energy trader
Vitol Energy took a 9.1% equity stake in CIC Energy, injecting much-needed operational cash.
With CIC's license coming up for renewal, the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources put up the Mmamabula South and Central blocks for tender in June 2012.
These blocks held about 670 million tonnes of coal. Bids would be evaluated in part on how quickly the bidder would be able to start exploiting the coal field.
However, in August 2012 the government decided to renew CIC's retention licence for the central block, with about 361 million tonnes of coal.
A week later the Competition Authority approved a proposed takeover of CIC Energy by
Jindal Steel and Power
Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) is an Indian steel company based in New Delhi. JSPL is a part of OP Jindal Group, and a leading player in steel, mining, and infrastructure in India. The company produces steel through backward integration ...
.
Jindal requires large supplies of coal for its Indian steel plants. Jindal Steel and Power, chaired by
Naveen Jindal
Naveen Jindal (born 9 March 1970) is an Indian billionaire industrialist, and a former Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Kurukshetra, Haryana in the 14th and 15th Lok Sabha. He currently serves as the Chairman of Jindal Steel and Powe ...
, is also a subsidiary of the Jindal Group.
In September 2012 it was announced that Jindal Steel and Power was completing a $116 million purchase of CIC Energy, acquiring its rights in the coalfield. Jindal said it planned to invest up to $700 million to develop a coal mine and a 300 MW power plant. It would also develop coal exports from the field, possibly via rail to Mozambique. The deal was conditional on approval by the Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources.
Controversy
In February 2008, David Wheeler of the
Center for Global Development
The Center for Global Development (CGD) is a nonprofit think tank based in Washington, D.C., and London that focuses on international development.
History
It was founded in November 2001 by former senior U.S. official Edward W. Scott, direc ...
published a paper analyzing the carbon dioxide emissions from the Mmamabula power plant,
which the
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
was proposing to help fund. He compared the cost of power to "clean" solar thermal power, and found that a charge of about $35 per ton of carbon dioxide would make the solar alternative economical. He recommended grants from the Bank's Clean Technology Fund for such projects as an alternative to loans for further coal generation that ignored the environmental costs.
References
Citations
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{{Portal, Energy
Coal-fired power stations in Botswana
Coal mines in Botswana