Chapudi coal project

The Chapudi coal project is a joint venture project of Rio Tinto and Kwezi Mining looking to develop a 1.04 billion tonne coal resource. The deposit is located in the Limpopo (Soutpansberg) coal basin of South Africa.

Rio Tinto and Kwezi Mining began exploring for coal in the area in 2003. In 2008 the company announced that the joint venture "has drilled about 90 boreholes in the project area, and conducted geophysical surveys to aid the geological interpretation. A total of 12,400 metres have been drilled to date. The central part of the project now has sufficient drilling coverage to define a measured and indicated resource. The rest of the project area has been drilled to inferred resource status."

The company stated that "the coal has been demonstrated through test work to be suitable for combustion to generate electricity. Rio Tinto and Kwezi Mining are currently investigating the feasibility and economics of establishing a mining operation to feed coal into a power station. They are currently engaging with Eskom, and a number of Independent power providers to this effect."

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