The quality of Riversdale’s 1.9 billion tonne coal resource in Mozambique has yet to be fully determined, with export quality coking coal for steel mills generally required to have low ash and high yield.

Lower quality thermal coals are better suited to local power generation purposes; however, some thermal coal can be exported.

However, Riversdale said its latest washability analysis of Benga’s coal indicated Benga would produce premium hard coking coals at a 30% yield, and while the company has yet to conduct pilot coke oven tests it said it believed the coke strength after reaction would be comparable to the “best Australian coals”

The combined coking and thermal coal yield combined would be 61%.

Meanwhile, conceptual mining studies at the project indicate strip ratios of 1:1, rising to a maximum of 4:1 for the first 25 years of the mine life.

The project would have a 20 million tonne per annum run-of-mine base, which would produce 6Mt coking coal and 6Mt thermal coal; however, the thermal coal export to domestic ratio has yet to be finalised.

Riversdale is also currently working on plans for a mine-mouth power station at Benga.

With the power crisis in southern Africa the company said it believes there would be considerable interest in a new large-scale coal-fired station in Mozambique.

Sydney-based Riversdale was last trading at $A9.70, after falling 39c yesterday.