MINING magnet, Billy Rautenbach's Zimbabwean-registered investment vehicle, Clidder Minerals, has struck a US$800 million joint venture deal with power utility, ZESA Holdings to extract coal and increase the power-generation capacity at the parastatals' thermal plants, The Financial Gazette established this week.ZESA is facing acute coal shortages to power its coal-fired thermal
plants which has triggered subdued electricity generation at its
thermal power production subsidiary, the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC).
The poor capacity at ZESA has in turn precipitated crippling blackouts
and massive load shedding across the country, grossly affecting
industrial output.
Rautenbach and his team are expected to meet ZESA executives tomorrow
to fine-tune the salient features of the deal before making a public
statement early next week, sources close to the transaction said this
week.
The sources revealed that the controversial businessman, who runs
probably the biggest haulage fleet in the country, would soon be
bringing in earthmoving equipment, which includes caterpillars and
front end loaders to ZPC’s coal claims to kick start the project.
Under the multimillion dollar deal, The Financial Gazette understands
that Clidder Minerals is to bankroll the US$200 million needed for
commencement of work at ZPC’s Western Sinamatela Coal fields near
Hwange.
The money will also fund the refurbishment of ZPC’s furnaces Number 7
and Number 8 which has been on the cards for some time but had failed
to garner enough financial resources to get started.
Expenditure worth US$600 million will be used to fund the construction of a coal mouth power station.
ZESA Holdings chief executive officer Ben Rafemoyo confirmed the deal
on Monday but said he was not at liberty to disclose full details of
the transaction at this stage until tomorrow’s meeting.
"One of our major constraints has been the supply of coal," Rafemoyo
told The Financial Gazette. "This joint venture will assist us in the
supply of coal. We will be able to expand and refurbish the Hwange
Power Company and we will definitely get more coal, we will expand
Hwange 7 and 8 and increase output by an additional 600 Megawatts,"
Rafemoyo added.
Last year ZESA sealed a US$15 million deal with ferrochrome producer,
Zimasco Holdings to refurbish some units at Hwange following a series
of similar deals that included the US$50 million inter-utility
transaction with Namibian Power Company, NamPower.
Rautenbach, who is 20 percent shareholder in Alternative
Investment-listed Central African Mining and Exploration Company of the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and counts President Robert Mugabe
among his associates, has been deported from the DRC under
controversial circumstances and has quoted controversy in mineral rich
South Africa.
He has been slapped with the United States and European Union backed
sanctions for his alleged financial support for President Mugabe’s
government, including his recent deal with state-run Hwange Colliery
Company Limited (HCCL), the country’s largest coal producer.
At Hwange, the tycoon is involved in contract mining to rescue the troubled HCCL from a slump in output.
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