Platinum miner Zimplats will buy power directly from the Cahora Bassa dam in Mozambique as part of its second phase of expansion.

The expansion is crucial to Zimplats' plans to increase production to 2.1 million ounces per year by 2014, and could precede a third phase of expansion in the future, Mining Weekly reports.

David Brown, chief executive officer of the Zimbabwean mining firm, said discussions with the government regarding Zimplats' indigenisation proposals are "progressing well".

"Implats can report that the Phase II expansion of Zimplats to 270 000 oz/m is on track, with the completion of the Portal 3 boxcut scheduled for March 2011," the publication reports him as saying.

Currently, Zimbabwe's available capacity is just 1,000 MW compared with an installed capacity of 1,890 MW, and due to the country's difficult economic situation funding for new power projects is hard to access.

Zimplats recently posted an $85 million (£53 million) profit for the half-year period to December 2010, a 150 per cent increase on the same period in 2009.

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Zim platinum miner to buy electricity directly from Cahora Bassa (25/02/11)

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