JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) Phase V expansion would now only be commissioned by the fourth quarter of this year, the RBCT reported on Monday, adding that contractors were considering working double shifts to meet this deadline.

The R1,2-billion project, which would increase the RBCT’s nameplate capacity to 91-million tons a year, was initially scheduled to be commissioned by July 1.

The RBCT COO Raymond Chirwa said in a statement that a detailed risk assessment, which was conducted to establish the completion date, had indicated that the Phase V expansion project would not be ready by July 1, as had been expected.

“On-site contractors will consider using additional resources to meet the extended commissioning date,” the RBCT noted.

Chirwa, in February, told delegates at the South African Coal Exports Conference, in Cape Town, that the project was on track to be commissioned in July.

At the time, he said that the project was in the final phase of construction, testing and commissioning.

The project would provide four-million tons a year of additional capacity for emerging black economic-empowerment (BEE) miners, six-million tons a year of capacity to the South Dunes Coal Terminal and nine-million tons a year to other miners through a subscription process.

However, the RBCT has formerly been criticised by junior miners which claimed they could not gain access under the expansion, noting that too few BEE coal producers were granted access under the expansion.

Newswire Reuters reported in December that it was for this reason that a consortium was planning to build a new ten-million tons a year coal export terminal adjacent to the RBCT.

However, a number of parties have said that rail, and not port constraints, was the real constraint for newcomer coal companies to gain access to the RBCT.

Transnet Freight Rail has, however, defended itself, saying that it had “excess and underutilised capacity” on its coal line and was puzzled by claims that rail constraints were limiting exports from the RBCT, Durban and Maputo.