Mozambique Coal Mining: Vale to announces sale of Mining and Logistics assets

The Brazilian mining group Vale is expected “soon” to announce the sale of a stake of between 15 to 25 percent in Vale Moçambique, the subsidiary that controls the Moatize coal mine in Mozambique’s Tete province, the president of Vale, Murilo Ferreira, said recently cited by the Brazilian press.

The president of the mining group said it was also negotiating the sale of up to 70 percent of the stake the group owns in the Nacala Corridor, also in Mozambique, a system that includes a railway and a port, in which it partners Mozambique’s state port and railway company, CFM.

In the second quarter of 2014 Vale Moçambique posted losses of US$103.5 million despite increasing coal sales to 833,000 tonnes, increasing the loss posted in the first half to US$142 million.

The company’s director, Peter Gutenberg, said at the time that losses stem from operating costs associated with transporting coal mined in Mozambique remaining “very high” at around US$65 per ton, and prices in international markets are very low, or about US$120 per ton.

In the third quarter of the year, the Vale Group posted net income of US$20.6 billion, 26.8 percent lower than in the same period of 2013 and a loss of US$3.38 billion, due primarily to the impact of the devaluation of the Brazilian real against the group’s debt denominated in US dollars. (macauhub/BR/MZ)