Coal exports fire up volumes

The Eastern Cape Development
Corporation (ECDC) has backed
calls for investment in the port.
At stake is a planned milling
and agro-processing belt in East
London for grain coming from
Transkei. “A fully functional
grain elevator would seem to be
necessary,” says (ECDC) CEO
Sitembele Mase.
Volumes through the port are
being fired up by exports of
coal from the Elitheni mine near
Indwe. A total of 1.5 million
tons of coal is due to be shipped
out over the next 12 months.
London-based Strategic Natural
Resources, which negotiated the
sale to Trasteel International, says
it is in advanced discussions with
Transnet Port Terminals about
building coal handling facilities
at the Port of East London. The
first order represents less than 1%
of the “already proven” Elitheni
coal deposit, according to the
company.
Granite will also start moving
through the port, with mining
due to begin around Butterworth
following successful trials funded
by the ECDC.
Mining company Bold Moves
owned by entrepreneur Monde
Tabata has discovered four
new variants of granite in the
Butterworth area.
Tabata says the primary market
is the United States.
A factory to manufacture
memorial stones, counter tops
and building blocks is also
planned for Butterworth.
Another boost for the port
would come from a planned
Sakhisizwe biofuel refinery in
Berlin.
German airline Lufthansa has
committed to purchasing oil
refined from up to 600 000 tons
of soybeans a year, according to
Sylvia Charles marketing director
of the Sakhisizwe Trust.
According to Charles, engineers
from the technology supplier
Cimbria Sket are already working
on a plant capable of producing
100 000 tons of soybean oil a
year, followed by a refinery. Full
production is scheduled to start in
2014. “We are in negotiations with
farmers’ organisations to speak
to their members about producing
the beans. All the research shows
that soybean production will not
impact on food security, but will
in fact enhance it,” she says.