Sahakol leads coal-mining joint venture in Myanmar

The company's board of director has also approved the study of a coal-fired power plant in Myanmar to enhance its long-term business propects in the country. 
Sasavat Sirisan, Chief Executive Officer of Sahakol Equipment Plc said: " SQ will sign a MoU (Memorandum or Understanding) with Myanmar's Golden Lake Co Ltd (GL) to establish a joint venture company. SQ will hold the majority stake of 70 per cent with GL taking the remaining 30 per cent. The JV company will undertake the Mai Khot coal mine concession at Mong Hsat township in Shan State in the eastern region of Myanmar. Covering a large area of 13,000,000 square kilometres, it is estimated to have coal reserves of up to 110 millions tonne of high-quality sub-bituminous and lignite. This amount is more than needed for powering large power plants and sales to companies which are currently buying imported coal from Indonesia. Furthermore, coal from Mai Khot Mine will have strong cost advantage because of much lower logistics and transportation expenses. The company expects a revenue of Bt27 billion within 28 years from this project with Bt22 billion in sales and B5 billion from the first phase of the coal mining operations. Thus, the company will increase its backlog from Bt30.31 billion to Bt35 billion.
In addition, the company is studying the construction of a coal-fired power plant close to the coal mine and is preparing to apply for a licence for the project from the Myanmar government. The economy in the area has high growth potential with high trade volume and industrial investment. However, there is no power plant in the area to support large-scale business expansion.
The company has returned to growth, recording a first-quarter net profit of Bt92 million from a net loss of Bt39 millions in same period last year.