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Australian based uranium exploration and development company Uranex NL announced re-commencement of exploration at the Company’s 100% owned Songea Coal Project, which lies in the richly endowed Ruhuhu Coal basin in Southern Tanzania.
The Songea Coal Project covers a total area of 3,500km2 in the Ruhuhu Coal basin, where eight (8) Karoo Basins containing eleven recognised coalfields have been identified. The two most significant coalfields Ketewaka-Mchuchuma (804Mt) and Ngaka (250Mt), occur in a similar geological setting within 50km of the Songea Coal Project. In the basin, coal tends to occur at the base of the Karoo sandstones and close to the contacts with gneissic rocks (basement). The Mchuchuma Formation has been subdivided into two distinct facies with the lower (and most significant) or sandstone-coal facies having thick coal seams with relatively low sulphur and ash contents. It consists of succession thick high-energy sandstone and arkoses separated by coal seams ranging in thickness from less than 1m to 7.5m with good continuity. Both domestic and export markets are rapidly developing from coalfields in Southern Tanzania including a number of regional industrial and power generation opportunities in Tanzania and bordering Malawi, DRC, Zambia, Kenya as well as export markets to India and China via ports at Mtwara and Nacala. Exploration commenced in 2010, with field mapping undertaken at the Gumbiro South Prospect, where outcropping coal seams had previously been identified close to the licence boundary. A 20km strike of prospective coal geology was identified for follow up drilling. The 2011 program will include desktop studies, further geological mapping at the Ruanda and Katunga Prospects, with drilling planned to follow (Initially at Gumbiro South) in the second half of 2011. More information, click here. |
