CAPE TOWN (miningweekly.com) – The building of a sixth phase of the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) is under discussion, RBCT CEO Nosipho Siwisa said on Thursday.

Siwisa told the IHS McCloskey South African Coal Exports Conference that RBCT was in talks with State rail company Transnet to increase the total capacity of the terminal from the current Phase 5 capacity of 91-million tons a year to the new Phase 6 capacity level of 110-million tons a year.

The steps are being taken to create more capacity for emerging junior coal miners.

Eskom, which has a three-million-ton RBCT export allocation, is currently on a drive to develop new black-controlled coal mines in order to fill a supply shortfall from 2018.

“We see Phase 6 as a quick win,” said Siwisa, who stressed the importance of port capacity always being ahead of rail capacity.

She said that at 110-million tons, RBCT would have taken up all the land available to it and any further capacity increases would require development at a new site.

The availability of some equipment was expected to ameliorate the capital expenditure required.

Plans were also at an advanced stage to refurbish the 12-million-ton-a-year capacity of the terminal’s first phase.

RBCT last year exported 68.34-million tons of coal, 2.8-million tons more than the 65.5-million tons of 2011.

Siwisa pointed out that the financial year of RBCT was different to that of Transnet, and Transnet GM Divyesh Kalan told the conference that the State rail company was on track to rail 77-million tons of coal to RBCT in this financial year after a "very strong" January.

Kalan reported that Transnet was engaged in a process of validating demand for coal and matching that to the volume of coal in the ground.

“To forecast is tricky,” Kalan said.

Phase 6 was, however, being mooted to accommodate new junior coal exporters and Transnet was cognisant of the need to take steps to ensure that efficiencies were maintained when smaller-volume producers became operative.

IHS Cera researcher Jonathan Pascoe told the conference that demand for seaborne steam coal grew by a record 75-million tons in 2012 to reach 835-million tons.

But this 2012 demand growth was over supplied, which caused prices to fall.

Kalan reported that Transnet was experiencing a lower demand for rail as a result of the lower prices.

“But you can’t take a short-term view and you must look at the trend line, which is up,” he added.