Mozambique: Businesses urged to invest in mining potential

28 April 2010, Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique
URL: http://allafrica.com/stories/201004260533.html

Maputo:  Mozambique's Minister of Mineral Resources, Esperanca Bias, on Friday invited foreign businesses to exploit the enormous potential that Mozambique possesses in the mining, hydrocarbon and energy fields,

Speaking at the closing session of a two day International Conference on Mines and Energy in Maputo, Bias said that Mozambique's enormous mineral and energy wealth could enable it to pay a key role in the region, the African continent and the world. "I would like to invite all those who are not yet investing in Mozambique to dedicate part of their investments to this country", she urged.

She hoped that the two day conference had enabled potential investors to get to know something of Mozambique and its potential. The challenge now facing the government, she said, is how to use natural resources in a sustainable manner, and guarantee that their exploitation allows the harmonious development of Mozambique. Those resources should be used as the driving force for Mozambique's sustainable development.

Bias assured her audience that the country possesses favourable legal framework for the development of natural resources.

One concern raised by participants was the need for electricity to make major new projects viable. The southern African region is running short of electricity, and this has put energy-intensive industrial projects, such as a third phase to the MOZAL aluminium smelter, on the outskirts of Maputo, on hold.

It is thus ever more urgent to press ahead with the energy generating projects currently on the drawing board - such as the Mphanda Nkua dam on the Zambezi, a second power station at the existing Cahora Bassa dam, and coal fired power stations drawing on the immense reserves of the Moatize coal basin in Tete province.