www.africanenergyresources.com
African Energy (ASX:AFR) owns 100% of the Sese Coal and Power Project in northerm Botswana which has a defined near-surface coal deposit containing indicated resources in excess of 2.5 billion tonnes. The entire resource is amenable to low-cost open pit mining and can produce large tonnages of both domestic power station fuel amd washed coal for regional and export sales.
African Energy Resources' Botswana coal tenement applications remain on track
African Energy Resources (ASX: AFR) has been informed that the Government of Botswana has engaged consultants to formulate a development strategy for coal resources in the southern African country.
The company received the notification from the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources. The review will commence immediately and is expected to take six months with completion planned by September 2011.
As part of the process, the government will suspend the granting of new prospecting licences for coal and associated minerals (coal bed methane and sediment‐hosted uranium) until completion of the review period.
African Energy has six applications for new tenements surrounding the granted prospecting licence (PL96/2005) which hosts the Sese coal deposit. These six new tenement applications will be subject to the moratorium on grants during the review.
The company welcomes the review and the efforts to optimise government involvement in the industry especially in the areas of infrastructure development and offers its cooperation and assistance.
African Energy is confident these applications will be processed as expected, once the moratorium as been lifted, as the Ministry has assured the company that the review has no impact on granted tenements, which includes Sese.
On March 7 African Energy secured funding for more advanced exploration at Sese, with a US$5 million convertible loan facility with powerhouse investment bank Macquarie Bank (ASX: MQG).
African Energy has had a string of stellar drilling results from Sese, and recently identified the average seam thickness in Block-B to be 15 metres, with easy extraction due to being near surface, with an average depth to the top of the seam just 38 metres.
Infill drilling is continuing toward the objective of defining an indicated resource and preparations have commenced for a trial pit to extract a 10,000t bulk sample later around the middle of the year.
The company expects to release its initial Inferred Resource estimate at Sese in late April.
