As titled in this article by John Kulekana...

As titled in this article by John Kulekana 31.05.10

http://allafrica.com/stories/201006010347.html

So these guys could be candidates for our Ngaka coal!

Some points..

* "One of the investors has already started building a plant in Tanga, while others are reportedly in the process of establishing world-class cement production unit in Coast, Dar es Salaam, Lindi and Mtwara regions."

*Tanga, is further north of Dar es Salaam, so I thought it less likely to be involved, though who knows, the transport there might be better than it is to the south of Dar es Salaam.

*Lindi, Is directly East of our coal tenaments (593klms by road) and is one of the closest option.
It has a stadium and a cargo port which is " Its port facilities are still rudimentary, allowing one or two small cargo and passenger boats at a time, and cannot accommodate ocean-going ships. though not sure of its capacity." "Wikipedia"

Another close option is Mbeya which is 500Klms north of Songea. ** I use Songea as a reference point because it is shown on the Ngaka coal field maps**


*Mtwara, is approx 100klms south of Tanga also looks good.

The Tanzania Harbours Authority (THA) operates ports of Dar es Salaam, Tanga, Mtwara, and minor ports of Kilwa, Lindi and Mafia on the Indian ocean. Dar es Salaam is the main port with capacity of dry break bulk cargo of 3.1 million tonnes of containerized cargo and 6.0 million tonnes of bulk liquid.


"Other cement producers are the Tanzania Portland Cement Company based at Wazo Hill in Dar es Salaam" I reckon ATQ will definitely had some contact with these guys.

*Wazo Hill is 27klms north of Dar es Salaam.

The only negative bit of info I found was from Dec 15th 2009 in the way of a comment made by the Minister for Industry in relation to the smaller cement firms.

" According to the Minister Mary Nagu, the local input has been doubled from mere 1.5 million metric tones to 3 million metric tones, hence there will be no need for importation of cement in the near future. According to her, the giant cement company in the country TPCC is very sustainable, but Tanga cement and Mbeya cement have very slim chances of sustainability since their scale is relatively low."

Over all its sounds like ATQ's management are in a good position though to negotiate coal to supply the expanding cement industry locally.
It will be good to see see the mini coal mine up and running to generate some cash.

Fantastic stuff!

Hopefully the comments about the eratic power issues will also drive the contruction of that 400Mw power station.