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Senior Business Reporter
THE Lubu Coal Project in Binga District, which is being developed by London Alternative Investment (AIM) listed miner Contango Holdings, is gathering momentum after taking delivery of key mining equipment, a wash plant expected to produce 20 000 tonnes of washed coking coal per month.

The plant was delivered on-site last Friday and assembly is expected to take approximately three to four weeks.
First coking coal production and sales is planned for the first quarter of the year.

“The company is pleased to report that the wash plant arrived on site on Friday 3 February and has been unloaded ahead of assembly.

“The wash plant site and foundations were prepared in anticipation of its delivery, therefore, construction and assembly is expected to take approximately 3-4 weeks, with commissioning following thereafter.

“Once calibrated and operating efficiently the wash plant is expected to be able to produce 20 000 tonnes of washed coking coal per month,” the mining firm said in a latest statement.

In addition, the firm said it also expects to take delivery at the site of its surface miner (Wirtgen 2200SM) in the coming days. The surface miner has a cutting width of 2200mm, ideal for selective mining, and can mine up to 500 tonnes per hour.

“Finally, the laboratory is also expected to arrive on site in the first half of February. Following its delivery, all significant capital items will be on site enabling the company to ramp up activity ahead of first production and sales at the end of Q1 2023,” it said.

The London-headquartered firm has a 70 percent interest in the Lubu Coal Project in Zimbabwe, with the remaining 30 percent held by supportive local partners.

The Lubu Coal Project covers 19 236 hectares of the highly prospective Karroo mid-Zambezi coal basin, located in the established Hwange-Binga mining area in north-western Zimbabwe.

In order to associate with the locals, the miner has now renamed the Lubu project to Muchesu Coal.
Muchesu is the local village in the broader Lubu region and Contango has recently taken delivery of new plant and machinery.

The company has said its new branding and images will be posted on its social media channels although it will continue to use the name Lubu in its public statements.

The new coal-mining project was previously owned by the Consolidated Growth Holdings before Contango entered into a process of acquiring agreements in December 2017.

The previous owners spent more than US$20 million on Lubu, which has enabled a sizable resource in excess of 1,3 billion tonnes to be identified under NI 43-101 standard.

Coal remains the dominant energy mineral for Zimbabwe and the country boasts of vast reserves of the mineral, particularly in the northwest and southern parts of the country.

The new investment will also boost the country’s prospects of meeting mining revenue targets of US$12 billion by 2023 under the mining roadmap launched by President Mnangagwa. Under this milestone, the
coal sector is expected to contribute US$1 billion.