Coal fires up Nacala port and rail links

Plans to use Mozambique’s northernmost port of Nacala as a major coal export hub are expected to open opportunities for other industries in the region. This follows approval by the board of Brazil’s Vale mining company to double production of its Moatize coal mine to 22 million tons a year at a cost of US$6bn (R50bn). Vale, which started exporting coal from Moatize in June this year, is currently using the port of Beira through a purpose-built coal terminal. At the time sales and marketing manager Marcelo Mattos said Beira’s capacity was limited, and that the Nacala corridor would be used to handle 18 million metric tons a year. At present, the Nacala corridor consists of the 615 km rail link via Entre Lagos to Malawi and the port of Nacala. Moatize, which is in Mozambique’s Tete province, will be linked to the port through a new rail line traversing Malawi. This will give the northern region of Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo rail access to a natural deep-water port. Road links are also being upgraded, with the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) providing over US$70 million for the Nacala corridor road development project. In March this year, Agostinho Langa, executive director of Corredor De Desenvolvimento do Norte, the group that runs Nacala, announced that capacity at the port would be increased from 75 000 containers a year to 250 000. Mozambique is fasttracking foreign investment in its mining industry, and a draft of a revised mining law is expected to be presented to parliament for approval by the end of this year in a bid to streamline procedures and attract more investment, according to mining minister Esperanca Bias. She was speaking at a coal mining conference in Maputo