Two new mining project with a high commercial value are due to start operating in June in the districts of Chionde and Ile, in Mozambique's Zambézia province, representing a total estimated investment of US$210 million, according to Mozambican daily newspaper Notícias.
The first project to be carried out by Chinese-owned company Africa Great Mining Development Company, is based in Inhassunge, Chinde and Nicoadala, in an area of 240 square kilometres, and prospecting and surveying work began in June 2013 and the first samples were sent to China for laboratory analysis.
The company has invested US$30 million, US$3 million of which will be spent on social projects, to remove an estimated 5 million tons of minerals such as zircon, ilmenite and rutile from the heavy sands deposits.
Second project is? based at the Morrua mine, in Ile district, which has been at a standstill for 21 years due to the civil war and other factors, where the concession-holding company, Highland African Mining Company (HAMC), plans to invest US$180 million in tantalum production.
The director general of HAMC, Lucas Bechis, told the newspaper?? that the mine could produce tantalum and have a lifetime of 10 years. The main markets for the metal extracted are Europe, Asia and America.
Before coming to a standstill the Morrua mine were explored by state company Minas Gerais de Mo?ambique.
Notícias also said there was another heavy sands deposit in the Pebane district, and the director of Tazetta Resources, Teodoro Massango, said that prospecting had begun three years ago and that so far no date had been set for exploration to begin. (macauhub/MZ)