[Ferro-Alloys.com] 

  London-listed Contango Holdings has continued to advance the Lubu coking coal project, in Zimbabwe.

  Despite the 30-day national lockdown that has been in place throughout Zimbabwe since January 5, the company has been able to continue to advance the project, as mining is classified as an ‘essential’ industry by the Zimbabwean government.

  The site was recently inspected by the Environment Management Agency (EMA) following the camp site rehabilitation and access upgrades that have now been completed.

  A meeting with the Binga District Council (BDC) has now been scheduled for early February to outline the two pit locations at Lubu ahead of pit development.

  This was originally expected to have taken place before the end of January; however, given the national lockdown, representatives are now expected within the next two weeks, in line with the proposed startup timetable.

  Contango expects to finalise its discussions with the proposed mining contractor imminently ahead of opening the two pits at Lubu in February.

  The company says this will be a significant milestone for Contango and will enable ongoing coking coal offtake discussions to be finalised.

  Moreover, it will allow the requested bulk samples, which will provide first revenues from Lubu to Contango, to be delivered to a number of multinational companies that are assessing the viability of building coke plants at Lubu.

  As previously reported, the manufacture of coke at site would provide a significant boost to the value of the product generated at Lubu, which is already considered to be highly valuable, the company states.

  “Our Lubu project is advancing well ahead of the unveiling of the first openpit next month.  I must commend the hard work and dedication of our on-site team in Zimbabwe who has persevered through pandemic adversity with relatively modest disruption to the planned development schedule.

  "In recent weeks, we have seen a significant uplift in global coking coal prices. Given the size and nature of Lubu, we believe Contango is well positioned to benefit from this demand, whilst elevated pricing should further improve the robust economics at Lubu,” says Contango executive director Carl Esprey.

  He further mentions that, in Mali, work has continued unimpeded at the company’s Garalo gold project.

  “More than 1 000 grab samples have been sent off to the laboratory in January and our in-house and external geologists have been working to improve the understanding of the geological and structural framework of the mineralised zone as highlighted in the Independent Technical Report announced in December 2020.

  "Initial feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and we look forward to providing a substantial update to shareholders in the coming weeks,” he says.

• [Editor:Catherine Ren]