The Lupane Gas Project in Matabeleland North is set to start during the third quarter of this year, the consultant of the project has said.
CEWALE Discovery Investment Environmental Consultant Michael Montana told Southern Eye that the investors were likely to embark on the project after they receive a letter they are waiting for from the Mines and Mining Development ministry.
He said the investors got a mining licence but were still waiting for a letter from the ministry as it is part of the process.
“The investors want to authenticate the whole process hence the reason why the whole thing is on hold. It’s because they are waiting for the letter from the ministry.
“They now have the licence but since it took them long to attain it then it means that they will have to wait for the letter,” he said.
Montana said it might take the investors three months or so from now to start working on the project.
Kusile Rural District Council chief executive Sifiso Hadebe said there had been no movement in the area since the investors have been waiting for the licence.
“Nothing has happened since the last time. We are also waiting to see whether the investors will come in and start working,” Hadebe said.
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In April this year, Montana bemoaned government's failure to grant the investor mining rights to start work.
He said the investors were still waiting for permission from the Mines ministry to embark on the lucrative project.
Natural gas reserves were discovered in Lupane several years ago, but commercial exploitation has failed to take off despite the government granting its exploration a national project status in 2007.
