Maputo — The Mozambican government has extended until October the licence to prospect for titanium-bearing mineral sands in the southern district of Chibuto, held by the Australian multinational BHP-Billiton.

Speaking to reporters in Chibuto on Friday, the Minister of Mineral Resources, Esperanca Bias, said the extension was intended to give BHP-Billiton a chance to take a definitive position towards the Chibuto heavy sands deposit, that was once reputed to be the largest in the world.

Bias pointed out that the exploration undertaken so far showed that large quantities of titanium ores of good quality exist in Chibuto. But if, by October, BHP-Billiton had shown that it was not able to develop the deposit and process the ore, then the government would have to look for other investors.

"What we really have to do is wait for the best opportunity for this undertaking to be launched", Bias added.

According to a report in Tuesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", BNP-Billiton had requested a two year extension to the licence, but the government was only prepared to offer six months.

The initial problem with the Chibuto project was electricity. Running a smelter to process the ore would require energy that the southern African region currently does not have. More recently, BHP-Billiton, despite being one of the largest mining concerns in the world, was reported as claiming that it does not have the requisite technology to exploit the resource.