JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Governments have responded in a pleasing way to the private-sector-led idea of establishing a trans-Kalahari rail link to Southern Africa's west coast, Exxaro CEO Sipho Nkosi tells Mining Weekly Online.

Currently, South African exports go along the State-owned coal line from Mpumalanga to the private-sector-owned Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT), which is being expanded to a capacity of 91-million tons of coal a year.

However, private-sector coal-miners and aspirant power-station builders active in the Mmamabula coalfield in neighbouring Botswana, and also others in the Waterberg coalfield in South Africa, have mooted an alternative rail line to the port of Walvis Bay, which is said to have the advantage of being able to reach European markets a week earlier than exports from the RBCT.

Nkosi, who is also the president of the Chamber of Mines of South Africa, says that the idea of building a trans-Kalahari rail link on the west coast is currently being led by the private sector, in liaison with governments in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

"We're pleased with the way governments have responded to that," Nkosi adds to Mining Weekly Online.

"If it were to happen, it would unlock so much value for SADC, for Botswana, for South Africa and any other supplier," he says, adding that, with the collaboration of various SADC governments as well as the involvement of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, he believes it is a project that could go ahead.

"It's a project that requires a lot of investment," he adds.

The construction of such a rail link would give Exxaro the flexibility of being able to export its coal through both channels.

It has an abundance of coal in the Waterberg, where it already has the large Grootegeluk mine and where it is investing R9-billion in the new Grootegeluk Medupi coal mine that will supply coal to Eskom's new Medupi power station.

Canadian-listed CIC Energy, which is developing energy coal prospects in the Mmamabula coalfield - considered a virtual extension of South Africa's Waterberg - has aspirations to export coal and has been considering all options, including supporting the construction of a trans-Kalahari rail line.

Consulting engineering firm Arup is reportedly studying the economic feasibility of a trans-Kalahari rail line, which would also assist new miners wanting to export from South Africa's Waterberg coalfield.

Exxaro is already dominant in the Waterberg, where it is undertaking a prefeasibility study into the building of a new Thabametsi coal mine to the west of Grootegeluk as an independent power producer option, and another to supply coal to Sasol's proposed Mafutha coal-to-liquids project. (Also see the Exxaro CEO on video).

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