Jindal says to build $400 million Mozambique power plant

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Jindal Steel and Power's Africa unit said on Thursday it plans to build a $400 million power station in Mozambique and sign an agreement to sell electricity to the southern African country by year-end.

"We can start building immediately after commercial agreement, it's a 30-month project for the 150 megawatt plant," Ashish Kumar, Jindal Africa CEO told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum African conference.

Kumar said the company's Chirodzi coal mine in Mozambique, producing around 3 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), could also be ramped-up as planned to 10 million MTPA within 18 months once a global coal commodity price slump reverses.

 

The open cast coal mine with a proven reserve of 700 million tonnes and an expected life-of-mine of 25 years, exported its first shipment of coal in the first quarter of 2013.

Lower global coal prices and logistics constraints have dented Mozambique's ambitions to export its massive coal reserves, although Brazilian miner Vale SA will start exporting coal in the third quarter.

(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by James Macharia)