2merkato

Tuesday, 14 June 2011

Over 4.4 million dollars was obtained from the export of 14,000 kg of opal over the last 11 months, the Ministry of Mines announced today.

According to the Ministry, compared with the volume opal exported and the amount of money earned from the same mineral last year, the income earned over the reported period has registered a significant increase.

Ethiopia has been exporting opal to over 27 countries including the United States, India and China which are its leading customers.

Between 2008 and 2009 Ethiopia had made about 241,564 dollars and 1.2 million dollars exporting 656kg and 100,000kg of opal respectively, the Ministry said.  

Source: Walta Information Centre

Tuesday, 14 June 2011

The 97 megawatt Amerti-Neshi multipurpose hydroelectric power project is going to start generating electricity with one of its two 48.5 megawatt turbines becoming operational in a week's time. The other turbine is scheduled to start operation on 15 September 2011.

The dam was built on the Neshi River, five kilometres from where it joins the Amerti River, both of which feed into the Finchaa River which flows out of the Abay River. The dam's reservoir started collecting water on 22 July 2010 and can hold 448 million cubic metres.

Construction on the dam was started by China Gezhouba Group Co (CGGC) in September 2007, nine months after the signing of the project contract.

The construction was estimated to cost around 137 million dollars according to Ministry of Water and Energy. Out of the total cost of the project, 85 percent of the funding was acquired in a loan from the Chinese Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank, while the balance was supplied by the Ethiopian government.

The project includes the installation of a 241 km transmission line at a cost of 445 million birr.

Additional dams planned to be constructed over the coming five years include Gibe III which will generate 1,870MW of electricity, and Genale Dawa III and Genale Dawa VI which will generate 254 megawatt, and 246 megawatt, respectively, all in the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Regional State.

Geba I and Geba II, with the capacity to generate 215 megawatt and 157 megawatt, respectively are in the Oromia Regional State.

In addition, in Amhara Regional State there are the Chemoga Yeda I and Chemoga Yeda II projects which will generate about 162 megawatt and 118 megawatt of electricity respectively.

Source: Fortune

Tue Jun 14, 2011

Allana Potash Corp said it found a new high-grade potash zone in its property in Ethiopia, driving its shares up by 12 percent.

The company said that results from drilling in Hole 19 at the company's Dallol property in Ethiopia's north eastern Danakil Depression yielded over 61 percent of potash over 0.90 metres. That was by far the highest grade potassium chloride (KCl) Allana had come across, Dundee Securities said in a note to clients, and rated the company as their "top pick" among small potash explorers.

The company said Hole 12 yielded 22.3 percent potash over 6.8 metres. About 90 percent of potash produced is used as fertilizer, known as potassium chloride. Demand for fertilizers like nitrogen, phosphate and potash has grown dramatically.

Alana has at least 16 drill holes which will be considered for the resource update in the company's upcoming technical report.

Dundee said that Allana would have a large resource upgrade and would be able to produce at exceedingly competitive operating costs.

At present, Allana Potash Corp has estimated resources of 105 million tonnes and "will have a significant upwards revision once the updated NI 43-101 technical report is prepared and completed over the coming five to seven days, the brokerage said.

The potash mineralization in the Danakil Depression is well known, with mining carried out sporadically from the early 1900s. Other mining corporations in the basin include BHP Billiton and India's Sainik Coal Mining, which is planning to start mining at the Musley deposit.

Source: Reuters
 

Monday, 13 June 2011

According Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the country has planned to produce about 8,000 megawatts of extra electricity from hydropower sources in the coming five years. He had announced on 2 April 2011 the construction of a 5,250-megawatt project at a cost of $4.76 billion dollars close to the Sudanese border.

According to the Wold Bank, Ethiopia's hydropower potential of 45,000 megawatts is second in Africa only to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Transmission line to Sudan, financed by the World Bank, could be completed this year, Raihan Elahi, the World Bank's senior energy specialist in Ethiopia, said last month. And, according to Elahi, an agreement has been concluded for Ethiopia to supply about 200 megawatts to Sudan.

The African Development Bank supplied 95 million dollars to Ethiopia and Djibouti to support the project that links the two countries, Ethiopia Resident Representative Lamin Barrow said on Friday.

Ethiopia is expected to make 10 million dollars from the first year of the connection, according to Barrow. The foreign exchange Ethiopia earns the connection can be used to support the country's Universal Electrification Access Program, Elahi said.

Ethiopia has a plan to provide electricity to 75 percent of its population in July 2015. Currently, 41 percent of the population has access to electricity.

Source: Bloomberg