In October 2023, Mabele Fuels re-signed the fixed-price, lump sum, turnkey solution Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract with China National Heavy Machinery Corporation (CHMC) for the development of the Mabele Fuels sorghum-to-bioethanol plant.

The contract signing ceremony took place on 18 October at the Beijing-based headquarters of CHMC, and marks another significant step forwards for the Mabele Fuels project. Under the EPC agreement, CHMC will be the contractor responsible for the development of Mabele Fuels’ Bothaville plant, and will leverage technology licensed from Vogelbusch Biocommodities, a leading industrial process design firm, to ensure the efficiency and reliability of the plant’s bioethanol production.

CHMC is an internationally-renowned EPC contractor for large-scale projects, and have partnered with Mabele Fuels since 2012. Their extensive experience will be a major asset to the project, having completed projects across 40 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America, including a similar bioethanol plant in Argentina.

Execution of the EPC contract will begin as soon as Mabele Fuels reaches financial close with senior debt financiers Standard Bank of South Africa. The development of the plant is expected to take 24 months.

Mr Bouwer was accompanied by Markus Granlund (Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer) and Prieur du Plessis (Head of Procurement and Commodity Hedging), as well as Standard Bank representative Ralph Gunn (Senior VP: Energy and Infrastructure Finance).