National Mining Corporation Hits Jackpot

After 15 years of exploration and spending 79 million Br, senior managers at National Mining Corporation (NMiC) announced, last week, the discovery of the largest gold reserves ever discovered, in Oromia and Tigray regional states.
The two regions are where the nation’s largest gold reserves were long-believed to be located, according to geological data from the Ministry of Mines (MoM). NMiC is one among several mining companies that the Ministry has granted concession rights to, such as Nyota Minerals (Ethiopia) Ltd and Sheba Exploration Ltd.

The latest discovery will give NMiC the competitive edge in the mining industry, when it begins exploiting the 568,000kg gold reserves found in Dawa, Oromia, and Werri, Tigray, company officials disclosed. When it starts production, the Corporation will operate the largest goldmine in Ethiopia, with the capacity to produce 6,000kg of gold from both areas, almost doubling the volume that MIDROC Gold currently produces. The latter exported 3.5tn of gold during the last Ethiopian fiscal year, covering nearly 31.5pc of the 485.3 million dollars in revenues that the country has generated from the export of the precious metal.

Established in 1993 with a registered capital of 43 million Br, NMiC is owned by Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi and, formerly, his brother Hassen Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi. The company launched its operations two years after its incorporation with a Russian trained mining engineer, Melaku Beza, as its founding chief executive officer (CEO). Acquiring the Awash Marble Factory from the state in 1993, which has an annual capacity of 300,000tn of marble, limestone, and granite, NMiC took concession of the Lege Dembi goldmine, in Odo Shakiso, Borena Zone, Oromia Regional State, for 172 million dollars.

Afar gold sparkles

Monday, 02 January 2012 12:03


Stratex International Private Limited Company, the (Alternative Investment Market) of the London stock exchange -quoted exploration and Development Company, reported that it had found significant gold deposits from drilling at its Megenta hot spring epithermal gold discovery in the Afar region of Ethiopia, which is a joint venture with Thani Ashanti Company, as well as new high grade samples from the nearby Akehil gold prospect.
Both the Megenta and Akehil prospects are located within the Company’s Tendaho Exclusive Exploration Licence (‘EEL’) in the Afar region of Ethiopia. The discovery confirmed that high grades of gold are present in the two locations in Afar.
David J. Hall, Stratex’s Executive Director of East Africa commented that, “This new discovery continues to yield significant results indicating that Megenta is a large and exciting new gold system”.
He also said equally significant was the presence of high grade samples of gold found at the Akehil gold prospect only 9 Km from Megenta.The company believes that bonanza grades of gold are present in epithermal veins that are within the Afar depression, and along with the evidence from the Blackrock discovery 250 Km to the north, it underpins the prospective nature of the area where the company has a substantial license holding.
Stratex discovered the Megenta hot spring gold system in October 2009. The Company has undertaken detailed geological and structural mapping, along with channel-chip rock sampling.
Stratex and Thani Ashanti have previously signed a binding Heads of Agreement with respect to five license blocks that comprise the Tendaho EEL in the Afar Depression of Ethiopia and six EEL’s in the Republic of Djibouti (collectively ‘the Afar Project’).

The Bole Meskel Road Construction Has Started.....Latest Video.

http://www.ethiotube.net/video/17281/Th ... as-Started

Google Announces g/Ethiopia

Friday, 06 January 2012 11:09

The Google team announced the first g|ethiopia to be held in Addis Ababa on 7-8 February.
The event is planned to engage business leader, entrepreneurs and community of developers interested in technology.

The first day will focus on hands on training from Google engineers specializing in the latest tools from Google including Android, App Engine, Chrome, Google+ and Webmaster Tools.

The second day of the event will focus on business including marketers, webmaster and entrepreneurs.

Technical and non technical presentations will be made focusing on Google products, platforms, tips and trends.

The event will be held at the Hilton Hotel and Conference Center. Food and beverage will be provided free of charge throughout the day.

The g|Ethiopia team will be releasing more information as the event gets closer. Confirmed attendees will receive a confirmation email which will include details on venue, agenda, and check in procedures.

Tekeze II, Dedessa Dams on EEPCo’s Drawing Board

Both dams to produce more power than Tekeze I Dam

The Ministry of Water & Energy (MoWE) is to commission economic feasibility studies to finance the construction of hydropower plants on the Tekeze River, 903km north of Addis Abeba, and Dedessa River, in Benishangul Gumuz Regional State, 386km from the capital.

The project on the Tekeze River will be the second phase of the development of hydropower in Tigray Regional State, after Tekeze I was built by a Chinese company last year, consuming 350 million dollars. Tekeze II, which will generate 150MW more than its predecessor will be built downstream of the existing hydroelectric plant, according to officials at the Corporation.

The brand new dam to be erected on the Dedessa River, one of the 24 tributaries of the Abay (Blue Nile) River on the east side, will be built in Kemashe Zone, Benishangul Gumuz. With a project generation capacity of 301MW of electric power, this dam will be the second hydropower plant to be constructed in the region, after the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, to be the largest dam in Africa.

Completions of these projects will cement the country’s desire to export electric power to Kenya and Sudan, countries with which EEPCo signed memorandums of understanding (MoU) for power purchase agreements.

Sudan to be on Ethiopia’s grid
Quote:

The 296 Km long and 230KV (kilovolts) Ethio-Sudan Transmission Line project, which costs USD 41 million, is set to be commissioned during the first quarter of 2012.
The project which started in 2008 and has three sections of transmission lines in Ethiopia: Bahir Dar-Gondar (137.2Km), Gondar-Shehedie (122Km) and Shehedie-Metema (37Km), is expected to connect with a transmission line in Sudan Gedaref city.
The project, financed by the World Bank, has an Iranian firm, SUNIR international, as substation contractor, while the transmission line contractor is ENEGROINVEST of Bosnia Herzegovina. The project consultant until December 2010 were HIFABOY of Finland and FITCHER of Germany. The Transmission and Engineering office of Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCO) has been undertaking the project consultancy and supervision work since 2011.

The project was supposed to be finalized in 2010 but due to financial sanctions on foreign payments imposed by the US on Iranian banks and other reasons related to the distribution line construction, the project has been delayed, according to sources.
The electricity to be sold to the Sudanese is still under discussion but it is expected to be up to 100 Mega watts (MW).
The Ethio-Sudan Transmission Line Project is part of Ethiopia’s plan of interconnecting East Africa through renewable and clean electric power and it’s also one of the projects for the development of East African Power Pool (EAPP).

This is not the first time such a transmission line is laid. On October 5, 2011 the 283 Km, 230 KV Ethio-Djibouti transmission line stretching from the eastern Ethiopian commercial city of Dire Dawa to Djibouti, began.

The governments of Ethiopia and Djibouti signed an agreement in November 2002 to implement the power interconnection project and subsequently the African Development Fund (AfDB) approved loans from a multinational group in 2004 amounting to USD 30.4 million for Ethiopia and 25.6 million for Djibouti.

The transmission line contractor for the entire project is Indian firm Kalpatatru Power Transmission Limited (KPTL) while the substation contractor for both countries is Siemens S.P.A.

The project, on average exports, 35 MW of electricity to Djibouti, from 11:00 p.m to 7 a.m local time. Ethiopia earns USD 1.3 to 1.5 million per month from the export. The project also benefits 12 Ethiopian border towns with nearly 10,000 customers.
Djibouti depends mainly on imported petroleum fuel for its power. The unit cost of power production in Djibouti on average is four to five times higher than Ethiopia which predominantly depends on hydro electricity power.

The Ethio-Kenya power grid is also another project that is in the pipeline, with Ethiopia expected to export 400 MWs of Energy when the project is finalized.

Ethiopia is endowed with an aggregate potential capacity of 60,000 MW of which 45,000 MW is from Hydro electricity, above 10,000 MW is from wind and 5,000 MW from Geothermal. This has enabled Ethiopia to be a center for interconnecting East Africa through renewable and clean electric power systems.

This has lead to the establishment of EAPP (East African Power Pool) which includes east Africa power corridor interconnection projects; those being the Ethiopia-Kenya line, the Ethiopia-Sudan-Egypt and the Tanzania-Zambia-Kenya-Uganda line.

EEPCo to replace all meters with smart ones.
Monday, 09 January 2012 10:20


Project will cost 9 bln br

The state power monopoly, the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo), awarded a nine billion birr project to the Metal and Engineering Corporation of Ethiopia (MetEC) to fully replace the existing post and pre paid electric meters with new “smart” meters, imported from India.
The two parties are in discussion to start planting the smart cards throughout the country. Based on the deal MetEC will replace the old, analogue meters that are read manually once every three months with new and digital smart meters that automatically capture information about electricity consumption and transmit it back to EEPCo.
According to sources, the metal corporation, formed by a collection of seven industries under the Ministry of Defence, already employed about 2,000 workers that will replace the existing meters with the new smart ones.
The employees who install the meters will be paid per piece installed in every household. EEPCo has almost two million registered customers throughout the country.
Misikir Negash Public Relations Head of the Corporation said that the two parties are working on the details of the procedures. “Apart from that I cannot give you further details about the project because it is in its early stage,” Misikir added.
Smart Meters are different than pre paid ones because they have real-time sensors, power outage notification capability and power quality monitoring, which utilizes two-way communication between the meter and the central system. They can also be used as water meters.I
In 2007 EEPCo announced that it completed preparation to replace all the existing post paid meters with pre paid ones. To accomplish this, EEPCo established Electrometer, a prepaid electric meter manufacturing company in 2008 with Elsewedy an Egyptian electric cable company. Electrometer was established with 88.2 million birr. It has a capacity of producing 20,000 prepaid electric meters annually.
Recently, MetEC also agreed with the state monopoly, to produce the power factor correctors, a device that ensures the efficient use of power. It will be installed in all industries in the country in the coming year. The metal corporation is also undertaking the electromechanical work of the Great Renaissance Dam project that is under construction by Salini Consturttori, an Italian construction firm, at a cost of 4.8 billion dollars.
EEPCo requires a whooping 182.2 billion birr for power generation, transmission and distribution system expansion to achieve objectives envisioned in the country’s five year governing economic plan, the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) that will be completed by 2015. From a total amount of envisioned budget, the biggest share of 122.8 billion birr will be committed to constructing dams and harnessing other power generation schemes such as geothermal, wind and solar powers.

Adama Wind Power Project Progressing
Thursday, 12 January 2012 08:28
Ethiopian Business News -

The construction of the Adama Wind Power Project, Ethiopia is progressing satisfactorily it was reported. 17 wind turbine towers are in place at this time, installed by the contractor for the project Hydro China-CGCOC, a Chinese partnership.

Construction on the wind power project launched in July of last year is planned to complete within a year.

It is expected that the project will generate 51 MW of electric power after all 34 proposed turbines are installed.

The Technology Faculty of Addis Ababa University is in charge of providing consultancy services for the construction of Adama I. The project is being funded by a 157 Million US dollar loan from the Export-Import Bank of China.

It is to be remembered that The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation is to construct six wind power and one Geo Thermal Power Plant this fiscal year. The alternative power generating projects are expected to have the capacity to generate 1,015 Mega Watts.

The wind power projects are Adama II Wind Power Project (153 MW), Assela Wind Power Project, (100MW), Ayisha Wind Farm (300MW), Debre Berhan Wind Farm (100MW), Galema I Wind Power Project (250 MW) and the Mosebo Harena Wind Farm (42 MW).
The Aluto Langano Geo Thermal Project is expected to have the capacity to generate 70 MW.
The wind power and Geo thermal projects are part of EEPCO’s aim to increase Ethiopia’s electric power generation capacity to 10,000 MW from the current 2000 MW capability.

Ethiopia to Export Cement

The Ethiopian Ministry of Industry has approved a request by Mugher Cement Enterprise to export cement from Ethiopia to neighboring countries.

The approval letter is soon expected to be delivered to the enterprise signed by Mekonnen Mayazewal Minister of Industry.

The permit to export cement is good news for Mugher as the enterprise would have found it hard to service debts otherwise according to an anonymous insider.
The cement enterprise is opting to export in the face of dropping demand and increasing stock according to sources.

The next step to facilitate the export of cement will be acquiring an export permit valid for the next year and to be renewed annually.

A primary market targeted by the cement enterprise is said to be South Sudan with a booming construction industry financed by the oil revenue.

The export will be facilitated through trading houses such as BFYB which is licensed to operate as an importer and exporter in South Sudan according to sources.

Mugher’s scheme to export cement will only remain viable until there is an increase in demand locally to meet the supply.

Exports will be stopped immediately with an increase in local demand said an official at the Ministry of Industry.

Mugher will also remain as a primary supplier to government infrastructure projects.

It is to be remembered that The price of one quintal of cement, in Ethiopia, has recently fallen to 240 birr from previous highs of 500 birr and above according to Shimeles Wolde Director of the Chemical Industry Development of the Ministry of Industry.

Mon Jan 16, 2012 5:18pm GMT

Ethiopia overtakes Colombia as number three producer

LONDON Jan 16 (Reuters) - The International Coffee Organization on Monday raised its estimate of the global coffee crop in 2011/12 to 132.4 million 60 kg bags as Ethiopia overtook Colombia as the world's number three producer.

The crop was revised up from a previous forecast of 128.6 million, largely reflecting an improved outlook in Ethiopia. It remained, however, shy of the prior season's 134.2 million bags.

The ICO, in a monthly update, put Ethiopia's 2011/12 crop at 9.80 million bags, up from a previous forecast of 6.35 million and the prior season's 7.50 million.

Ethiopia prides itself as the birthplace of coffee. Some 15 million smallholder farmers grow the crop, mostly in the forested highlands in the huge country's west and southwest.

Brazil and Vietnam are the world's top two producers.

Colombia's crop in 2011/12 was seen at 8.50 million bags, barely changed from the prior season's 8.52 million. It produced around 12.5 million bags in 2007/08 before adverse weather and a tree replacement programme curbed production. (Reporting by Nigel Hunt, editing by Jane Baird)