Heavy haul
which grew by 7.2% in the first six months of 2012. “Our production is still constrained by the limited capacity at the Beira port and the Sena railway line,” Mr Ricardo Saad, a director at Vale Mozambique said in August. “We have a lot of production capacity at the mine and we hope that when the refurbishment of the Sena line is complete, we can begin to accelerate our production capacity.” Vale though is not restricting its output to one line. With work underway on a coal processing unit capable of extracting 26 million tonnes per year, which will be one of the world’s largest when it is built, the company is investing a reported $US 4.5bn in a railway and port project, $US 691m of which it is spending this year. In June the Mozambique government
approved a lease to Northern Integrated Logistics Corridor (Clin), which is 80% owned by Vale and 20% by CFM, for the Mozambique sections of the new line from the Moatize coal basin to Nacala on the northern Mozambique coast. Clin will provide $US 1.5bn of the cost of the new 1067mm-gauge line which will be 912km long and will serve a new dedicated coal terminal at Nacala-a-Velha adjacent to the existing Nacala port, in effect establishing a second deep water port at Nacala. The port is generally regarded as the best deep-water harbour on the east African coast and unlike Beira, does not require dredging. Vale’s new terminal will also be capable of handling far more than Beira’s annual capacity of 12 million tonnes. Two new stretches of railway will be built comprising a new line in Malawi, and a short section from Mossuril to Ponta Mamuaxi within Nacala. Rehabilitation work will also take place on the existing route from the Malawi border to Mossuril, which is operated by Mozambique’s Northern Corridor Development Company (SDCN) which is 51% held by Vale. In order to achieve a direct route from Moatize to the north, a section of the line will run through neighbouring Malawi. Vale signed a memorandum of understanding with the Malawian government in December 2011 that will allow it to build a new line and share and upgrade existing railway infrastructure. The new line will run 210km from the existing line in Moatize via Chikwawa to Nkaya Junction where it will meet the Malawi - Nacala line. Rehabilitation of the 98.6km line from Nkaya to Nayuci on the border with the Mozambique province of Niassa will
36
also take place. This section is operated by Central East African Railways (Cear) in which SDCN holds a 51% stake. Work is set to start on the railway
before the end of this year and will be completed by 2015. The line will have sufficient capacity to carry 40 million tonnes of coal per year, 30 million of which will be available to Vale, and 10 million-worth available for use by other mining operators, or for passenger services.
Other mining companies already active in Mozambique include Rio Tinto which completed a $US 4bn acquisition of the domestic Riversdale mining company last year and is carrying out a feasibility study of building its own railway infrastructure. The company signed an agreement with fellow Moatize mining license holders Ncondezi and Revuboe in January which would permit access to its new greenfield rail and port project known as the Integrated Transport Development project (ITD). Early indications are that ITD could potentially have annual capacity of between 25 and 100 million tonnes and will offer the shortest distance, and potentially lowest cost, of transporting coal from Tete to another new port facility that will be located north of the Zambezi River. Ncondezi is considering using either or both of the Sena and Vale’s Nacala line to initially export coal from its estimated 4.5 billion tonnes of reserves. The agreement with Rio Tinto will allow it to export 10 million tonnes on the new route with no commitment
Mozambique Chipata
Lilongwe Balaka Nkaya Chiúta Moatize Cambulatsitsi Donna Ana Blantyre Chikwawa Mocubo Mutarara Caia Machipanda Mutare
Dondo Beira
Indian Ocean Quelimane 1067mm gauge 0 km 100 Cuamba Nayuci Nampula Mogovolas N to Lichinga
Monapo Nacala-a-Velha
IRJ
Nacala Mossuril
Standard gauge
Existing lines Planned lines
Planned lines IRJ October 2012
MALAWI
ZIMBABWE
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