Maputo – Brazilian mining company Vale has completed 75% of the works required for it to start producing mineral coal in Mozambique. The information was confirmed this Tuesday (20th) by the company’s general manager of Finance, Fábio Bechara. Thus far, the company has invested US$ 719 million in the assembly phase of the Moatize Mine, in the Tete province, which should begin exporting metallurgical and thermal coal in June next year. Total investment should be US$ 1.3 billion.
The target markets are Brazil, Europe, China, India and Japan, which, according to estimates, should export a total of 1.2 million tonnes of ore in 2011, a figure that is expected to increase from 2013 onwards. Mozambique’s reserves of the ore are estimated at 870 million tonnes.
“Logistics is one of the main topics of discussion here,” said Bechara during a lecture at the Mozambique Coal Conference, attended by technicians, government agents and industry businessmen in Maputo. “It is not easy, but all of these our goals may be reached, and Vale is ready to help.”
According to him, none of the company’s plans have been changed due to eventual problems in Mozambique’s transport, production or export logistics. One of the last bottlenecks solved, according to Bechara, was the Port of Nacala, where a temporary quay has been put into operation and should meet the needs of ore exporters for up to two years. Two cargo ships are under construction and a railway is being readapted to transport the coal along the more than 900 kilometres that separate the Moatize Mine from the Port of Nacala.
In addition to the open-air coal mine in the Tete province, Vale is already carrying out preliminary studies to extract phosphate and nickel in Mozambique. The company operates in 35 countries and has over 100,000 employees. Vale is the world’s second largest mining company, and the first in iron ore exploration.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
