Mozambique Mining Industry: Moatize Coal due to be exported via Nacala in December

Exports via the port of Nacala, in Mozambique’s Nampula province, of coal mined in Tete province are scheduled to begin in December of this year, according to information given at the 32nd Coordinating Council of the Mozambican Transport and Communications Ministry.

According to figures announced at the meeting in Tete the trains that will carry the coal from Moatize, in Tete province, to the Nacala coal terminal, which is under construction, will be an average of 1,500 metres long and be made up of over 120 freight cars pulled by four locomotives.

Normal coal transport operations to the Nacala-a-Velha terminal from the Moatize coal basin will be carried out by 80 locomotives, the newspaper said.

The railroad will be accessible by all coal mining companies in Tete province based on a memorandum of understanding signed by the Mozambican government and the consortium building the railroad. The tariffs that will be charged for use of the railway are now being considered.

The daily newspaper also said that shareholders of Brazilian mining company Vale, state port and rail manager Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique, The Nampula Development Corridor and other concession-holders intended to achieve transport capacity of over 11 million tons per year by the end of 2015 and to continue investing to achieve 13 million tons in 2016 and 18 million tons in 2017. (mhub/MZ)