Encouraging news for the Chibuto heavy minerals sands project, in Mozambique, is that three companies, it has been reported, are interested in developing the Chongoene Logistics Corridor, without which Chibuto will not be viable on a sustained basis. The information was revealed by Transport and Communications Minister Carlos Mesquita in a recent interview with the Notícias newspaper in Maputo.
Mining activities are currently being carried out at Chibuto by a consortium of two Chinese companies, Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group and Yunnan Xinli Non-Ferrous Metals. The Chibuto district is located in Gaza province, some 60 km from the provincial capital, the coastal port city of Xai-Xai. Back in 2014, it was announced that the consortium would invest more than $471-million in the Chibuto project. Full production was forecast to be one-million tons a year of titanium and ilmenite (no figures for zircon were available), with an estimated life-of-mine of 25 years. According to the Macauhub news agency, currently, the heavy mineral sands are being transported in containers, by road, to the port of Maputo – a distance of some 250 km – for export to China, where the processing takes place.
The Chongoene Logistics Corridor project will include the construction of a railway from Swaziland to the port of Chongoene, in the Xai-Xai district. Mesquita did not identify the interested companies. He did say, however, that a memorandum of understanding, to enable the project, “was almost complete” and would be signed soon. Each of the companies would develop its own proposal for the corridor and submit it to his Ministry for analysis. Completion of the project, will allow the Chinese consortium to transport far greater quantities of its mining output to a port much more efficiently.
Remaining with logistics, the port of Beira, still the primary export facility for coal produced in the Moatize coalfields in the inland province of Tete, was reopened last week after its access channel had been temporarily blocked by a nautical accident. The dredger Macúti, the country’s largest such vessel (with a length of 82 m and a beam of 16 m and the ability to hold 2 500 m3 of sediments), had sunk in the channel after being involved in a collision with a container ship at about 08.00 on June 27. The collision reportedly happened in poor visibility caused by thick fog. The Macúti, reportedly built for Mozambique by a shipyard in Lithuania, cost €35-million, was successfully raised and is now under repair. Seven salvage specialists were brought in to Beira to help in the recovery of the dredger, two of whom were Mozambicans and the other five were South Africans. In the meantime, two smaller dredgers, the Aruângua and the Alcântara Santos, have taken over its duty of keeping Beira’s channel navigable. Each of these can hold 1 000 m3 of sediment.
Separately, late June continued to see sporadic attacks by armed elements of opposition party Renamo along highways in the Sofala and Manica provinces (Beira is the capital of Sofala), despite the imminence of high-level talks between Renamo and the ruling Frelimo party. A number of people were wounded, but none killed. It was announced that security force escorts for vehicle convoys would be reinforced in the highest risk areas.