The Australian mining company Riversdale has announced that it has completed its Coal Project Mining Study, for an open cast coal mine at Benga, in the western Mozambican province of Tete, and has delivered the study to the Mozambican government.

    The Executive Chairman of Riversdale, Michael O' Keefe, told a Maputo press conference on Friday that the mining study, if accepted by the government, would be the basis for granting Riversdale a mining concession at Benga, AIM reported on Sunday.

    He said that a detailed environmental impact study on both the mine and an associated coal-fired power station will be completed by December.

    Riversdale has told the government that the mine will ready to start production in 2010. It plans a production of 20 million tons a year.

    Direct capital investment in start-up costs, O'Keefe said, would be in excess of 800 million U.S. dollars. He estimated that the mine will create 1,500 direct, permanent jobs, and 4,500 indirect jobs.

    Riversdale is just one of several companies exploring the coal reserves of Tete, regarded as one of last great unexploited coal basins on the planet.

    A short distance to the east of Benga the Brazilian mining giant, the Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD), has a concession with proven reserves of 2.4 billion tons of coal.

    Coal exports by Riversdale, CVRD and other operators in the area will exceed the capacity of the Sena railway that links the coal basin to the port of Beira, and the port terminal itself. Other options are being looked at, and O'keefe said Riversdale favored taking the coal on barges down the Zambezi river.