Massive titanium reserve found

A large reserve of titanium has been found in Mozambique's southern Gaza province in the Chibuto region, media reports said on Friday.

John Kachamila, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister was quoted in 'Noticias', the Maputo daily, as confirming that a mining feasibility study in the area had already begun. He said that initial studies indicated that the reserve was larger than 100 million mt, and that commercial exploitation of the site could begin within the next two years.

The Chibuto reserve is believed to be three to four times higher than the Richards Bay deposits in South Africa.

More than two million people register

Over two million people have registered for Mozambique's general elections later this year, media reports said on Friday.

According to Maria Macuacua, spokeswoman for the Elections commission, there are an estimated 8.3 million potential voters in Mozambique. She said that the best results came from the central province of Manica where 32 percent of the potential electorate had registered. She said that lowest figure came from the Nampula province where just over 20 percent of people had registered.

Plans to increase grain production

Mozambique plans to boost its annual grain production during the 1999/2000 harvest by at least 15 percent to about 2,1 million mt, media reports quoted the country's National Agricultural Directorate as saying.

Mozambique, which currently imports 110,000 mt of rice every year, is targeting rice production as part of the initiative to increase grain yields to reduce the country's heavy reliance on imports, the directorate said in a report to the agriculture deputy minister, Helder Muteia.

However, added the reports, Muteia warned that a lack of quality seeds, fertilisers and pesticides might derail attempts to meet government targets. Muteia confirmed, however, that the government would continue to provide help to marginalised or rural farmers if they could prove that commercial networks or cooperatives did not exist in their areas, the reports added.

Denmark to take toxic waste

Denmark has agreed to accept about half of the 500mt of toxic waste that is currently stored in the southern Mozambican city of Matola, media reports said on Friday.

John Jespersen, chairman of the Regional and Environmental Planning Committee in the Danish parliament was quoted as saying that pesticides could be "exported to Europe, and even to Denmark, for safe treatment instead of being incinerated locally with Danish aid and technological support."

Initially Denmark was prepared to fund the incineration of the pesticides in the furnaces if the Matola cement factory. This resulted in an outcry from the residents of the town and environmentalists worldwide.