Indian mining company, Coal India Ltd (CIL), had abandoned a Mozambique coal mining project after citing poor quality of coal on the site.

CIL group has already spent about $80 million in coal exploration at A1 and A2 blocks in Tete Province of Mozambique. A senior official with CIL group said samples sent to India for laboratory analysis revealed that the coal was of very poor quality, and contained insufficient carbon to be called coal.

“The coal in the two blocks does not have enough quality to be called coal,” said a senior executive from the CIL group. “Speaking clearly, I can say that what is there cannot be called coal.”

Six years ago, the CIL group was granted a five-year exploration and development license for blocks A1 and A2, both located in the province of Tete by  Mozambique government and founded the Coal India Africana subsidiary to lead the project coal mining and exploration project.

Mozambique exported its first batch of coal in 2011 and expects to become the world’s largest coal exporter. It is also spending about $50 billion in infrastructure projects to access its coal reserves.

By George Mpofu