Maputo — The Mozambican government on Monday signed a contract worth about 3.9 million US dollars with the Norwegian company Norconsult for detailed geological mapping of the northern provinces of Niassa and Cabo Delgado.

Signing the contract were the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Castigo Langa, and Norconsult representative, Odd Ystgaard.

Speaking to reporters after the signing, Langa said that one of the obstacles to investment in the Mozambican mining sector is lack of knowledge of the country's geological potential.

It was true that some major mineral deposits are being exploited - but they had been discovered by accident. This was the case, for example, with the heavy sands at Chibuto in the southern province of Gaza. It turns out that Chibuto has the largest known deposit of titanium-bearing mineral sands in the world - yet it was simply stumbled upon. "There was no prior information about such deposits", said Langa.

Ystgaard said that the funds are immediately available, and Norconsult would start working on the ground in the northern provinces as from January.

The contract forms part of the institutional capacity building project of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, which is budgeted at 33 million US dollars.