Progress on Swazi line

Resgen has revealed that talks are underway to secure funding for its Boikarabelo mine in Limpopo Province of South Africa.

Expressions of interest for the contract to build the new railway through Swaziland will be sought before the end of this year. The line will take about 16 Mtpa of general freight off the existing coal line from Ermelo to Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) in the short term, opening up capacity on that railway.

South Africa’s Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) has announced another achievement, breaking its monthly record for the amount of coal it transports to RBCT. TFR carried 7.46 Mt in August, a long way ahead of its previous best. Alan Waller, CEO of RBCT, said: “This is a major milestone, as it is the first time in 41 years of RBCT operation that we have offloaded more than 7 Mt per month.” It will be interesting to see if this high level of performance can be sustained over the months ahead.

In early October, Exxaro announced that it has signed a 10-year transport agreement with Transnet to carry 7.8 Mt of coal on the Lephalale line from the Waterberg Basin to Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT). The deal is expected to trigger a big increase in output at Exxaro’s Grootegeluk mine, and the company’s CEO, Mxolisi Mgojo, said that it will invest ZAR10B (US$711M) in the area over the next five years.

South African mining companies face further uncertainty after the government suspended its revised Mining Charter less than a month after finalising it. The Minister of Mines, Mosebenzi Zwane, said that changes to the Charter would not be enforced until an appeal by the Chamber of Mines is heard by the High Court.

Australian firm Resource Generation (Resgen) plans to develop the 12 Mtpa Boikarabelo coal mine and railway in South Africa. The opencast mine is located in the Waterberg Basin, in Limpopo Province, which is expected to become an important source of South African coal production, but it currently lacks rail capacity. Coal from the mine could be exported via either Matola Coal Terminal in Mozambique, Richards Bay Coal Terminal or even Durban.