An inadequate rail system to the port of Walvis Bay saw the Rosh Pinah zinc and lead mine in Namibia starting to prepare to move its export route to the port of Lüderitz last November. Rosh Pinah, an underground operation 800 kilometres south of Namibia’s capital, Windhoek, produces 70 000 tonnes of zinc and 28 000t of lead annually. But the poor quality of the 812km rail line to Walvis Bay only allowed the mine to move about 10 000t a month – and that resulted in the building up of the stockpile. Now, the mine’s majority stakeholder, Glencore Xstrata (Glen), plans to accelerate shipments of lead and zinc concentrates after switching ports, an unidentified person familiar with the plan said. By the end of March, a stockpile of a little less than the mine’s 98 000t annual production will be shipped about 290kms northwest of the operation through the port of Lüderitz – where it has constructed a storage facility holding 40 000t of concentrates – the source added. A London-based spokesman for Glencore declined to comment immediately. The mine started shipping metal to Walvis Bay in 2011 when Exxaro Resources (EXX) mothballed its Zincor refinery in SA. Glencore Xstrata agreed to buy the mine in 2011 and was cleared to do so by Namibia’s competition authorities the next year. CAPTION The Port of Lüderitz ... by the end of March a stockpile of lead and zinc will be shipped through the port.
