CAPE TOWN (miningweekly.com) – State rail company Transnet is targeting the railing of 76-million tonnes of export coal in 2015, Transnet GM commercial Divyesh Kalan said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the IHS Energy South African Coal Exports Conference 2015 attended by Mining Weekly Online, Kalan said much would depend on coal availability from coal-mining companies, however.

As much as coal was generally available from some major companies, juniors sometimes presented challenges in not always meeting their Quattro allocations.

Also, the biggest challenge as far as the expansion of the coal line to 81-million tons was concerned, was obtaining additional power on the line from State electricity utility Eskom.

Meanwhile, the engineering for the Swazi line project was complete, for which a business case would be presented in April.

A coal industry forum had been established so that all those interested in exporting could be accommodated to provide convergence in project commissioning and to ensure that Transnet had an informed view.

Discussions were ongoing with the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT), the alternative RBT-Grindrod and other minor ports, to accommodate emerging miners, Kalan added.

RBCT CEO Nosipho Siwisa-Damasane said RBCT, which had experienced an uncharacteristically bullish January, when both rail and RBCT hit the six-million-ton export mark for the first time, currently had four-million tonnes of export allocation for 23 junior miners as part of the Quattro system, which was administered by the Department of Mineral Resources.

Being a 91-million-tonne terminal, Siwisa-Damasane said RBCT still had considerable capacity and flexibility, as it was operating at a 72-million tonnes level with a 2015 coal export target of 74-million tonnes.

RBCT had been developed into a fully fledged 24-hour operation, which last year exported an all-time record 71.3-million tonnes.

The private-sector-owned terminal works as a fully integrated supply chain with State-owned Transnet Freight Rail, which railed in 72.4-million tonnes in 2014 from coal mines up to 850 km away.

Five tipplers offload rail wagons at a rate of 5 500 t an hour and can empty a 100-wagon train in less than two hours.

Preliminary research work has been done on a Phase 6 expansion of the terminal, which would increase the capacity by 19-million tonnes a year to 110-million tonnes a year.

RBT-Grindrod CEO Bongani Biyela said his company planned to expand a small facility at Richards Bay to a capacity of 20-million tonnes a year, in alignment with Transnet.

“This will bring a niche market for emerging miners," Biyela said, adding that RBT-Grindrod would complement the services of RBCT.

The new terminals's immediate phase was to expand to six-million tonnes and then to increase capacity from six-million tonnes to 20-million tonnes, in support of small and medium-sized mining companies.

An issue being faced, however, was the low coal price, which emphasised the need for greater terminal efficiency and competitive rail tariffs.

Kalan commented on the widespread discussion under way with all stakeholders to make the RBT-Grindrod terminal a success.