Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
4 February 2009
Maputo — The town of Ancuabe, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, has been receiving power from the national grid since Sunday night, according to a statement from the publicly owned electricity company, EDM, issued on Wednesday.
The arrival in Ancuabe district of power generated at the Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi raises hopes of reviving the Ancuabe graphite mine, which closed in 1999 because the output did not cover the costs of production, particularly the cost of electricity.
In the 1990s, the power for Ancuabe came from diesel-powered generators. The mine relied on enormous quantities of imported diesel, and the rising cost of this fuel dealt graphite production in Ancuabe a fatal blow.
The hydro-electric power from Cahora Bassa is much cheaper, and the government hopes that the Ancuabe mine can be back in production, under new management, later this year. The Swiss company Timcal Graphite and Carbon has been awarded the contract to operate the mine, following a tender launched by the government in May 2008.
The feasibility studies have shown that there could be over a million tonnes of graphite in the Ancuabe deposit.
Connecting Ancuabe to the national grid cost about 10 million US dollars, and the work was financed by the Arab Bank for Development in Africa (BADEA). Work on the transmission line to Ancuabe began in October 2008, and involved about 150 workers recruited locally.
The Ancuabe connection is part of the second phase of a Cabo Delgado electrification project, which has already brought Cahora Bassa power to Montepuez and Chiure districts. Work is continuing on sub-stations in Montepuez and in Namapa, in the neighbouring province of Nampula.
42 kilometres of medium voltage line were built from the small town of Metoro to Ancuabe, and four kilometres of low voltage lines within Ancuabe itself. EDM says there is an immediate potential of 130 clients in the Ancuabe district capital, of whom about 30 have already been connected including the district hospital, and all institutions of the district government.
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