BOTSWANA RAILWAYS CEO Andrew Lunga announced on November 17 that the railway is planning to build a rail connection from Erasmus on its main line to serve the Mmamabula coalfield, which is being developed by Toronto-based CIC Energy Corp and its local subsidiary Meepong Resources.Construction of the new line is projected to cost 1?2bn pula, serving coal reserves valued at more than 200bn pula. South African electricity supplier Eskom hopes to import coal from Mmamabula for its power stations, as well as signing an agreement with Botswana Power Corp to buy electricity generated by a new station at Mmamabula that is due to come on line in 2008.

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