Vale hopeful of Malawi’s rail link

Vale Logististics Limited, a subsidiary of Brazilian-based mining group Vale, says it is unable to rail all the coal mined at Moatize Mine in Tete to its destinations due to logistical challenges.

The company contracted Mota-Engil to build a rail link of about 245 kilometres from Moatize passing through Malawi to the deep sea port of Nacala in Mozambique to be used for transporting coal to its international markets.

The company’s planning and control manager Valteir Lacerda told Malawian business journalists on a tour of the mine on Monday that they are currently transporting about 4.5 million ton of coal through the Sena rail link which is not in good condition.

He said they are using the 42- ,wagon train with each having a capacity of 63 tones to Beira.

“We are currently sending four trains per day,” said Lacerda.

He said they are exporting methurlugical coal used in metal processing while thermal coal is being stock-piled for future export.

Lacerda said the company has employed 4 000 Malawians in the rail project making up 83 percent of the total workforce in Malawi.

He said the company has high safety standards and has a culture of disseminating safety issues to the local people.

In Malawi, Lacerda said the company has invested about K8 billion in local suppliers in which 150 companies are involved in the project.

Vale, the world’s largest mining group after BHP Billiton, has invested over $1.3 billion in the Malawi project which officials said is a huge investment for the company in Africa.

The company is expected to finish the rail project in the third quarter of 2014.

Vale was given a concession on 24 000 hectares until 2018 and has 1.5 billion reserves of coal.

The company has a storage capacity of 800 000 tones with prospects of increasing it to two million tones in future.

The journalists trip has been sponsored by National Bank of Malawi. They are being led by the bank’s corporate affairs manager Annie Magola.