TFR to move on manganese upgrade

31 May 2013 - by Bianca Markram

Transnet has received
approval to go ahead with
the R2.3-billion upgrade
of the manganese railway
corridor from the Northern
Cape to the Port of Ngqura
in the Eastern Cape, a move
welcomed by manganese
miners.
TFR CEO Siyabonga
Gama said last week that
his company could now
start work on the first phase
of a larger R27-billion
railways and harbour
development project that
would lift South Africa’s
manganese export capacity
to over 20 million tpy, a
prospect sorely needed
by the manganese mining
industry.
TFR estimates that the
first phase of the project,
which will connect
manganese miners in the
Northern Cape with Coega,
will be completed sometime
in 2017.
However, manganese
miners are keen for work
on the rail corridor to start
sooner rather than later,
since they are required
to vacate the port of Port
Elizabeth by 2016, with the
understanding to move the
manganese ore to Coega to
ship to the deep-sea port of
Ngqura.
“The rail development
is urgent,” David
Wellbeloved, director of
projects at Asian Minerals,
told FTW. His company
has a newly commissioned
manganese mine at Hotazel
in the Northern Cape,
which is the heart of South
Africa’s manganese mining.
“But for the first time I
am convinced Transnet is
putting their money where
their mouth is,” he said.
“As an industry we have
been talking to Transnet
since 2005. There have
been various promises
in the past that didn’t
materialise. Then there
were delays to getting this
thing going, but for now I
think this is really going to
be happening.”
However, he noted that
there was still a lot of work
ahead, not only for TFR in
its upgrade of the rail line,
but also for the miners.
“We still have to put our
stockpiles closer to Coega,
and we still have to do a
lot of work on how we are
going to get the stockpiles
there,” he said.
Manganese miners
told FTW that they were
looking forward to not
having to wrestle one
another for rail allocations.
Also, at the port, loading
capacity will be double.
Ngqura has two loading
berths, whereas Port
Elizabeth only has one.
“It is a matter of national
importance and urgency to
get manganese off the roads
onto rail,” Wellbeloved
said. “The trucks are
running the roads to
shreds.”
TFR will upgrade the
rail network from Hotazel
in the Northern Cape, to
support heavy loads of
up to 26 tonnes, through
Postmasburg, Kimberley,
De Aar and Cradock
to Coega Industrial
Development Zone, and
then on to the deep-sea port
of Ngqura.
Other manganese miners
in the area are newcomers
United Manganese Kalahari
and Tshipi è Ntle, as well
as established miners like
Samancor, Assmang and
African Rainbow Minerals.
Also in the pipeline at
Coega is the possibility of
a ferro-manganese smelter
to be built by Kalagadi
Manganese, which has just
started operating its mine
near Hotazel. However,
Kalagadi is still in the
process of seeking funding
for this, FTW understands.
Coega will be a loading
terminal for the bulk alloys
producers onto ships in
Ngqura.