The board of Brazil’s Vale had approved a $6 billion (R50bn) expansion of its Moatize coal project in Mozambique to lift output to 22 million tonnes a year from the 11 million tonnes it expected to mine initially, a senior official said yesterday.
Marcelo Matos, the general manager for marketing and sales at Vale’s coal unit, told a coal conference in Maputo that first production from the expanded mine was forecast for the second half of 2014.
About 70 percent of the coal from the expansion would be coking coal – a key steel-making ingredient – and the remainder thermal coal.
Vale began mining coal in Mozambique earlier this year and has been exporting small amounts of thermal coal since September. First exports of coking coal are expected to start next month and be increased to commercial scale by March or April next year.
The expansion will include upgrading the northern port of Nacala and the building of a rail line connecting the coal mine with the port.