Public enterprise Eskom wants coal for its power stations, public enterprise Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) wants coal for its trains and the Public Enterprises Department is in charge of both. Eskom has in the past called for coal to be declared strategic and TFR wants coal exporters to sign take-or-pay contracts. Giant coal producer Glencore has pointed out that this tug-of-war for national patrimony can have some unintended consequences. “I think this is a thing both government and ourselves have got to worry about. We don’t want to be in a situation like Australia, where suddenly you sign these take-or-pays and you have a better outlet for the coal on the local market, but you can’t supply the local market because you’re paying a $15/t penalty on your take-or-pay,” Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg said in response to a question from Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly during a global media teleconference last week. The grapevine has it that some Australian coal-fired power stations have on occasion been forced to pay coal mining companies export parity prices plus take-or-pay rail penalties in order to get their hands on coal.