Canadian firm to invest $55 million in Mozambique jatropha venture

Energem Resources of Canada said on August 7 that it had acquired a 70 per cent stake of shares in a renewable energy venture in Mozambique that will use jatropha to produce biodiesel fuel.

The firm said that under the terms of its purchase, it will invest up to US$55 million, including the planting of an additional 5,000 hectares of jatropha and the acquisition of another 60,000 hectares to produce the biomass crop. Energem said its acquisition was part of a strategy to focus on hydrocarbons infrastructure projects and the biofuel sector. As part of this strategy, the Canadian company has created a new division, Energem Biofuels, based at an ethanol plant at Kisumu in Kenya.

The latest development comes as the Mozambican government said it wanted to attract investors into massive production of bio-fuels given its potential, stable political and investment climate, and its agro-ecological advantages. Maputo has launched a bio-fuel campaign programme branded "Mozambique will become the Brazil of Africa."

"The potential is there and we have plans to go ahead. But we still have a lot of work ahead of us to first assess the bottlenecks and opportunities, and then outline the long-term potential," said Science and Technology Minister Venancio Massingue.

More than five million hectares of land would be used in producing biofuel crops, according to the country's science and technology ministry. Mozambique has the potential to produce more than 21 million litres of ethanol, and a further 40 million litres of bio-diesel.

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