Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, Mr Lefoko Moagi, says there is need to exploit coal in a more efficient and profitable manner.

He said this during a tour of Minergy Limited Mine in Medie in the Kweneng District on Friday.

He stressed government's intention to exploit the coal resource that sat at around 200 billion tonnes in the country.

Mr Moagi urged Minergy Limited to exploit value chain activities that could come from coal so that the economy could thrive.

Nevertheless, he assured the company that government would like to develop a western corridor so that goods could be transported quickly.

For his part, the Minister Transport and Communications, Mr Thulagano Segokgo said coal presented the country with opportunities.

One of the possibilities, he said, was for Minergy to partner with government in developing infrastructure such as Mmamabule-Lephalale rail link to ease transport logistics for the market.

He also said government would look into the issue of roads that linked the mine and peripheral villages to see how best the issue of dust could be resolved.

Minergy Limited CEO, Morne du Plessis, said the company was reeling from the COVID-19 shock that brought the mine operations to its knees.

He said 15 weeks of border closure had a negative impact on their operations.

Mr du Plessis said prices had dropped and further pleaded with government to improve border clearing of trucks since a trip from South Africa to Francistown could take up to five days.

Source : BOPA

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