The conclusion of the latest upgrade of the 575-km-long Sena railway, which connects the coal-rich province of Tete, in Mozambique, to the port city of Beira, on the country’s coast, has had to be postponed to March. It was previously scheduled for completion in December. This was reported to the Notícias newspaper of Maputo by Sena Line Reconstruction Brigade director Sancho Júnior.

The Sena line carries coal from mines in Tete province, particularly metal- lurgical coal, to Beira for export. Currently, the railway has a capacity of between two-million tons a year (Mt/y) and three-Mt/y. The upgrade will increase this capacity to 6.5-Mt/y.

The delay has been caused by a shortage of stone for ballast for the tracks. This stone is being supplied by the Siluvo quarry in Sofala province and the Moatize quarry in Tete province. In April last year it was estimated that the ballasting would require 64 000 m3 of stone. So far, only 15 000 m3 has been delivered. The actual ballasting is being carried out by Portuguese construction companies Mota-Engil and Edivisa (the latter being part of the Visabeira group) under contracts worth $45-million.

In all, the upgrade programme has involved the reconstruction of the section of the line between Beira and Dondo (both in Sofala province), lifting and replacing track, replacement of the rails and sleepers and augmenting the ballast between Savane (in Sofala province) and Moatize. In addition, additional passing loops have been built at five locations – the stations and halts at Póvoa, Dondo, Milha-8, Cundue and Murraça (all of which are in Sofala province).

Meanwhile, the South African unit of Finland’s Metso Corporation has reported that it has received a €3.3- million order from Vale Mozambique for 110 heavy-duty slurry pumps for its Moatize mine. The pumps will be delivered during the last quarter of this year and the contract also covers training and technical assistance for the first six months. These pumps will enable Vale to ramp Moatize’s annual production up to its Phase 1 target of 11 Mt/y. (Later, under Phase 2, this will be increased to 22 Mt/y.)

Separately, Anglo-Australian junior miner Beacon Hill Resources stated that the resources of its Minas de Moatize metallurgical coal project (not to be confused with Vale’s Moatize) in Tete province were 31% greater than previously believed. The resources update was carried out by Golder Associates, of New Zealand, and the figures are Australasian Joint Ore Reserves Com-mittee compliant.

The results of the update are that measured resources have been increased from 35.9 Mt to 41.4 Mt and indicated resources from 30.5 Mt to 35.2 Mt. Inferred resources now stand at 10.6 Mt. Subtract 0.4 Mt already mined, and the result is a total resource of 86.8 Mt, compared with the previous estimate of 66.4 Mt.

Beacon Hill bought Minas de Moatize in 2010 and the openpit operation started mining thermal coal in 2011. To date, this thermal coal has been trucked to Beira for export. With the company planning to expand production (including metallurgical coal, the mining of which is due to start this month) to 500 000 t/y during this year, the use of trucks will become impractical. Consequently, it is negotiating access to the Sena railway to transport its coal to Beira.

Earlier, Indian private-sector company Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL) told the Business Standard in New Delhi that it intended to export 500 000 t of metallurgical coal from its Chirodzi mine, in Tete province, this year. This will all be supplied to JSPL’s steel operations in India. The company plans to produce 10 Mt/y of metallurgical and thermal coal from its Mozambique operation.