london roadshow & botswana update, page-17

Andelas - and credit to you for sticking with CCC for so long. Good to see you true to your word re: "LT Buy" sentiment. Most of your fellow posters from September 2009 are nowhere to be seen around here these days. Wonder how many of today's posters will still be here in 2012?

For those who want to get familiar with the Botswana Mmamabula coal fields, (near CCC's Kweneng lease) courtesy of Don's ex-BHP mates at CIC & Snowden Mining Industry Consultants - have a read of this report, which was brought to my attention by Domum. Beware though, that it is a 10.5mb pdf, from June 2007, very technical and over 200 pages long! I'm slowly making my way through it.

Here's their weather report:

Climate
5.2.1 Temperature

The MEP is located on the Tropic of Capricorn, with the climate regarded as semiarid, temperatures ranging from as low as 2.65C in the winter months to as high as 41.35C in the summer (DWA, 2007).

The range and frequency of hourly temperature readings obtained at nearby weather stations is shown in Figure 5.6. This chart depicts that the temperature is predominately over 30C for the period these observations were made, with 95% of the sample population exceeding 20C.

During the summer months from November-April, days are hot and generally sunny in the morning with possible afternoon thunderstorms. Daytime temperatures can rise to 38C and night temperatures drop to around 2025C. During the winter months from MayOctober, days are dry, sunny and cool to warm while evening temperatures drop sharply. Daytime temperatures generally reach 20C and can drop to as low as 5C at night.

5.2.2 Rainfall

The rainy season begins late summer commencing in October/November and ending in March with an average annual rainfall of 445 mm (DWA, 2007). Figure 5.7 depicts this distribution of rainfall throughout the year from a nearby weather station. What is evident from this illustration is that monthly rainfall on average does not exceed 100 mm during the wet summer, and can be considered non-existent during the winter. Generally rainfall in the area is erratic and commonly occurs as thunder showers followed by periods of strong sunshine.

5.2.3 Operational Season

Based upon historic climatic conditions recorded within the region of the MEP, Snowden consider that no extended periods of adverse climatic conditions exist that would impinge upon the operational standpoint of a mine within the MEP. Environmental considerations relating to maximum operating temperatures for both personal and equipment would need to be considered during design and implementation. Furthermore, unsealed roads may become impassable without the use of four wheel drive vehicles during periods of infrequent heavy rainfall, for a number of days until drying out of the surface has occurred. "