Ingwe to expand to RI

Ingwe to expand to RI

RICHARDS BAY, South Africa (Reuter): Ingwe Coal Corp Ltd is looking to Indonesia and Australia for the capacity expansion necessary to ensure it maintains its share of the world steam coal market.

"We need to expand our offshore interests to ensure Ingwe stays competitive in the world steam coal market," chairman Mick Davis told analysts and reporters on a visit to the Richards Bay Coal Terminal yesterday.

Ingwe exported over 24 million tons of coal in 1995.

But the group needs to increase output by around two million tons per annum to maintain its share of the world steam coal market, which totaled some 227 million tons in 1995.

To this end, it is pushing ahead with the development of the Togara South project in Australia and plans to enter the fledgling, but potentially huge, Indonesian coal mining industry.

Ingwe is also investigating opportunities in Indonesia, where a boost in power generation in the coming decade and easily accessible coal reserves were expected to catapult the country into the position of a major producer.

Large-scale coal production only started in Indonesia in the early 1980s.

Proven total Indonesian coal reserves were between five and six billion tons and the country was producing 40 million tons per annum currently, 30 million tons of which it was exporting.