Brazilian major mining group Vale is slowing down the development of Phase 2 of its Moatize mining project, in Tete province, in Mozambique. This is to ensure that Phase 2 comes into operation in conjunction with the commissioning of the company’s new Nacala Corridor rail route, which will transport the coal from the mine to the coast for export. This was revealed in the group’s financial results report for 2012.
Moatize Phase 1 has a capacity of some 11-million tons a year (Mt/y) of coal, divided into about 70% metallurgical (or coking) coal and 30% thermal coal. Phase 2 will double these figures while retaining the same ratio of metallurgical and thermal coal. It will involve the duplication of the mine’s coal handling processing plant and related infrastructure. The civil engineering works for the stockpile area and the crusher for Phase 2 are in progress. To date, 27% of the expansion project’s physical infrastructure has been completed.
The production ramp-up at Moatize gave Vale a record coal production last year. Apart from Moatize, Vale also owns combined metallurgical and thermal operations in Australia and has minority participations (25% in each case) in two metallurgical coal companies in China. Moatize is, however, its biggest and flagship coal project.
Last year, the group’s total coal production provided 2.3% of its operational revenues, being divided into 1.8% metallurgical coal and 0.5% thermal coal. In monetary terms, coal contributed 2.11-billion Brazilian reais (R$) (about $1.07-billion or R9.62-billion), of which R$1.62-billion ($820-million or R7.38-billion) came from metallurgical coal.
In terms of volumes, the company’s metal- lurgical coal output last year came to 4 864 Mt, while the figure for thermal coal was 3 134 Mt. During 2012, Vale invested $1.25-billion into its global coal activities, of which $943-million went into projects, $207-million into maintenance and $102- million into research and development.
Regarding the Nacala corridor, the group pointed out that it had signed concessions with the Mozambique government which allowed it to accelerate the development of the railway and the associated coal export terminal at the port. The Nacala corridor project is named after the Mozambique port city that is its terminal and involves the building of new railway lines in Malawi and the rehabilitation of existing lines in Malawi and Mozambique, as well as the construc- tion of the coal export terminal. All these facilities will be majority-owned by Vale, through local subsidiaries. When completed, it will have the capacity to transport 18 Mt/y of coal.
Currently, work is already under way on the earthworks for onshore parts of the Nacala terminal, while equipment necessary for the construction of the offshore part of the terminal has arrived on site. To date, 15% of the physical infrastructure of the port has been completed. Earthworks for parts of the railway are also under way, and 12% of the physical infrastructure of the railway has been finished.