Mozambique: Vale coal production and sales fall by about a third

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Mozambique: Vale coal production and sales fall by about a third

5:18 CAT | 22 Oct 2020

File photo: Macauhub

Vale’s coal production and sales in Mozambique fell by about a third in the first nine months of this year compared to the same period in 2019, according to the company’s quarterly report.

The third quarter however showed improvements over the previous three months.

Vale is the largest coal mining company in Mozambique, with coal the country’s main export, especially to Asia.

Coal production at the Moatize mine in Tete province, central Mozambique, fell 32.6% in the first nine months of the year, from 6.8 million tons in 2019 to 4.6 million tons this year.

In the same period, sales fell 34.9%, from 6.7 million tons to 4.3 million tons.

The “depression” in the demand for coal to be delivered by sea “continues to influence production levels”, the company says. Reserves at the Nacala mine and port remain high, and “close to the facility’s storage limits”.

Despite this, production in the third quarter of this year increased 9.3% in relation to the previous quarter, with no additional operational stoppages – such as that in June – necessary.

The company has also announced the resumption of the mine maintenance plans planned for this year, thanks to the improvement of logistical conditions since the pandemic was first declared.

“With greater flexibility in the flow of goods, services and people in the region – which enabled the logistics for receiving equipment and materials – and based on the security levels maintained at this stage, Vale decided to resume the maintenance plan in November 2020,” it says.

The teams “are already being mobilised” and maintenance is expected to improve operational conditions and raise production to 15 million tonnes per year.

Currently, Vale Mozambique has an installed capacity to produce 12 million tons of coal per year, but it has fallen short of this amount: in 2018 it produced 11.5 million tons and in 2019 eight million.

Mozambique had by Wednesday accumulated a total of 11,331 cases of infection with the new Covidd-19 coronavirus, 80% of whom recovered (9,165), and with 79 deaths in the seven months of the pandemic’s duration.

Source: Lusa