South Africa's State-owned transport company, Transnet, has set January 16 as the deadline for manganese miners to express interest in participating in a 2009 export rail allocation process – or face disqualification.

Transnet has mandated private-sector consultancy KPMG Services to manage and advise the initial, as well as the long-term allocation process, which are together referred to as the 2009 manganese allocation process.

Transnet has invited manganese miners to enter into contracts for the railing of manganese from Hotazel in the Northern Cape to the manganese terminal at Port Elizabeth.

Transnet says that, once manganese miners qualify, they will be invited to take part in the evaluation of future demand, which could involve the creation of additional or alternative rail and port capacity.

Although Transnet caps available manganese rail capacity at 4,4-million tons a year for the period from November 1, 2009, to March 31, 2013, it recognises that 4,4-million tons a year may be insufficient to meet current and future demand.

Kalagadi Manganese technical director David Wellbeloved, whose fledgling company will begin railing manganese only in 2011, says that Kalagadi has already given Transnet its ramp-up plans. The world's largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, has a 50% shareholding in Kalagadi.

A spokesperson for a manganese exporting company already using the rail says, however, that the annual 4,4-million tons capacity mentioned by Transnet leaves little room for newcomers, as the two largest exporters already take up virtually all of that.

"The official notice seems to open up more questions than it answers, and it's probably going to eventuate in a dragged-out process," he forecasts.

A large user of the rail believes, however, that Transnet is trying to sort out the rail issue in a fair way, over the longer term, but expresses the hope that the process will be open and transparent.

Large current exporters of manganese include Assmang and Samancor, and another upcoming new potential rail user is the Russian-owned Renova.

The Transnet notice requests enquirers to direct their questions to KPMG's Nick Matthews and Olivia Makhetha, but Matthews was unavailable and Makhetha could not say whether companies had yet expressed interest, nor provide the venue of the forthcoming information-sharing session, which may take place on January 29.

Transnet says, in its notice, that parties wishing to express an interest in participating must do so in writing by not later than noon on January 16, failing which the State enterprise may "in its sole and absolute discretion, disqualify them from any further participation in the 2009 manganese allocation process".

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