Reuters reported that a JV between the Rwandan government and a Mauritius based company is positioning the central African country to ramp up exploitation of coltan.

As per report, Gatumba Mining Concessions will invest at least USD 2.5 million and build 10 small processing plants over 5 years in a major step towards expanding Rwanda nascent mining sector which has been dominated by small scale artisanal mining.

Mr Bruce Stride chairman of GMC said that the firm was also considering constructing a couple of medium sized open pit mines, which would also produce tin ore and other minerals if the international price for coltan improved in the coming months. Over the next 5 years we are targeting building 10 plants, each with a monthly turnover of around USD 60,000 of which roughly USD 25,000 will be profit.

He said that international coltan prices needed to approach USD 60 per pound up from around USD 38 per pound now for the proposed medium sized mines to be economically viable. He expected that the price rise was imminent.

Mr Stride said that a new pilot plant on the 20,800 hectare concession already produces 700 grams of tantalum and tin ore per tonne of material extracted, twice the volume per tonne forecast by the firm's geologists in a recently concluded study.

He said that "The company's main aim in this geological survey was to find one or 2 spots where we could put big, what you'd call internationally medium size mines for mining tantalum, tin, niobium and some wolframite too. We will be concentrating on these operations until the prices of the commodities and the metals prices improve a little bit and make those larger mines viable."

(Sourced from Reuters)