Transnet urged to work with Richards Bay port
The president of the Chamber of Mines‚ Mike Teke‚ has renewed his appeal to Transnet to collaborate with the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) on further expansion to cater for junior black coal miners wanting access to export markets.
The RBCT expansion plans have been central to a public row between the terminal and Transnet over opening export markets to small mining companies. Image: RBCT.
Addressing a media briefing held in Richards Bay‚ Teke - who is also chairman of the terminal - said he believed such a collaboration would be in the best interests of South Africa.
He said: "There is a huge opportunity for us to accommodate other key mining companies through an expansion from the current capacity of 91m tons a year (mt/year) to 110mt/year through a Phase 6 expansion of the terminal.
"That extra 19mt/year is an opportunity to accommodate a company like Transnet. I want us to put our heads together as a country with Transnet‚ who I see as a strong partner. Then we can accommodate the junior coal miners to ensure we advance transformation‚" Teke said.
The background to Teke's comments is the public row that erupted last year between the terminal and Transnet's chief executive Brian Molefe. Molefe accused the terminal of restricting access to the coal export market by shutting out junior black coal miners.
Separate terminal
He said that Transnet was looking at building a separate export terminal at Richards Bay‚ which would be a "greenfields" development catering solely for junior black coal miners‚ and run by Transnet.
Asked what the state of play was between the terminal and Transnet‚ Teke said: "There is ongoing engagement with Transnet to try bring this to fruition. Ultimately‚ I believe we will all end up sitting around a table holding a big workshop on an opportunity that can be exploited by both parties."
Asked for comment‚ Transnet spokesman Mboniso Sigonyela said: "Transnet engages all its key stakeholders continuously‚ especially with regard to exploring possibilities for assisting emerging miners access export markets.
"RBCT is one of those stakeholders. These engagements are at very early stages and any agreements will be determined by commercial and governance considerations," he said.
RBCT's chief executive Nosipho Siwisa-Damasane said the cost of expanding the existing terminal by another 19mt/year would be dramatically lower than the cost of building a similar-sized new terminal as a separate greenfields project.
The reason is that the major costs for any new export terminal lie in the construction of new ship berths and new rail infrastructure. The terminal already had shipping berths available and Transnet would be able to use the existing railway infrastructure.
Siwisa-Damasane said the terminal was carrying out a pre-feasibility study on the proposed Phase 6 expansion. Once this was completed a full feasibility study would be done‚ subject to approval by the terminal's board.
"We want to be in a position to start construction of the Phase 6 expansion immediately should we reach agreement on a partnership with Transnet."
Source: I-Net Bridge
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