Exxaro to exploit Congo's Mayoko iron ore project

Mining Review reports that South African diversified miner Exxaro is to upgrade a railway line constructed by the French in the Republic of Congo in 1931, to transport at least 10Mtpa by 2016, as it moves to exploit its recently acquired Mayoko iron ore project in that country. Currently, the Congolese railway line has a capacity of some 5Mtpa, but needs to be repaired and upgraded in certain sections.

Venter said Exxaro would probably opt for the small town of Indienne, north of a deep-water port at Pointe Noire on the Atlantic coast, as a location as it might be too difficult to convert Pointe Noire, used mainly as a container port, into a bulk iron ore exporting terminal.

According to Mining Review, Exxaro, which bought Mayoko from African Iron, is also mulling building a new harbour and a power plant at the mine, which has an upside potential of 2.5 billion tonnes of iron ore, Exxaro executive general manager for business development Ernst Venter said. "The decision will probably be to look at Indienne to establish a port which can at least handle this 10Mtpa," he added.

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