The project owned by Kenmare Resources was the second biggest investment in the country after Mozal, an aluminium-melting project based in Maputo. Kenmare Resources started mining operations in the country in the 1980s. The Moma Heavy Sands project had the capacity to produce 800 000 tons of ammonite a year, which the company expected to increase to one million tons by 2009.
The project would employ more than 250 local and 90 foreign workers in its initial stages and the number was expected to increase, said reports. The Moma Heavy Sands project had been issued with a 21-year renewable exploration permit. Daniel Ramos, head of Moma district said the establishment of the heavy sands project had also started attracting other investors to the area. He gave an example of recent tourism projects that were recently approved for the area.
This week, tourism authorities in Nampula revealed that a South African-owned company registered in Mozambique had invested more than $3m in a tourism project on the islands of Caldeira and Nejovo. Domingos Cintura, Nampula provincial director of tourism, said the group registered in Mozambique as Group Fresh Limitada was headed by Jack Francis Truter, a Cape Town-based business executive. The construction of the five star lodges, which would also include water sports facilities, would also benefit the investors and visitors to the Moma project, he said.