Rukwa Coal Mine

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Rukwa Coal Mine is a mothballed coal mine in Sumbawanga, Sumbawanga Urban, Rukwa, Tanzania.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Rukwa Coal Mine	Sumbawanga, Sumbawanga Urban, Rukwa, Tanzania	-7.968229, 31.6332682 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:

Loading map...

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Mothballed	Care and Maintenance	2017	–

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
0.48	0.0	2024	Surface	Open Pit	–	50.0*	360.0*

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt)	Year of Total Reserves Recorded	Total Resources (Mt)	Coalfield	Coal Type	Coal Grade	Primary Consumer/ Destination
–	–	173.0	Rukwa	Subbituminous	Thermal	Coal Plant

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Note: To access more comprehensive data on energy ownership, please visit the Global Energy Ownership Tracker.

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Edenville International Tanzania Ltd	Edenville International Tanzania Ltd [100.0%]	UK, Tanzania

Table 6: Historical production (unit: million tonnes per annum)

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
–	–	0.08	0.04	0.01	0.02	0.03	0.02	0	–

Note: The above sections were automatically generated and are based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker May 2026 release.

Ownership Tree

This ownership tree is part of the Global Energy Ownership Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

Background

Rukwa Coal Mine is a small opencast coal mine operated by Shuka Minerals' subsidiary, Edenville International Tanzania Limited, in western Tanzania, Africa. The mine is a part of the Rukwa Coal to Power Project and will feed the proposed 120 MW Rukwa coal-fired plant. The mine's production rate is roughly 4,000 tonnes per month (0.48 million tonnes per annum).

The mine supplies coal to East Africa industries and will feed the Rukwa power station once it comes online. (As of April 2023, plans for the Rukwa coal power station are still in place, but appear to be shelved.)

Care and Maintenance

In 2024, the Rukwa mine was placed under care and maintenance. Owner Shuka Minerals aims to return the mine to an operational state by the third quarter of 2025.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.