Vale’s Moatize coal operation has hit a new quarterly record for the second quarter of this year, the company’s recent activities report has revealed.
The Brazilian group reported that the mine’s production for the quarter was three-million tons (Mt), a 24.8% compared to the first quarter and a 101.8% jump on the equivalent period last year.
Moatize is now Vale’s only coal operation, although it has minority shares in two operations in China.
The report further indicates that of Moatize’s 2Q17 production, 66%, or 2 Mt, was metallurgical (or coking) coal and the figure was 25.6% higher than that for metallurgical coal in 1Q17 and 153.6% higher than for 2Q16.
On the other hand thermal coal production in 2Q17 was 988 000 t, which was 23.2% up on 1Q17 and a 122.9% increase on the same period last year.
“The production record resulted from the successive monthly records of the two coal handling and preparation plants (CHPP1 and CHPP2),” stated the report.
“CHPP2 continued its ramp-up consistently, increasing its production by 18%, compared with 1Q17, reaching a new monthly production record of 511 kt (thousand tons) in June, and pushing overall production to 1.1 Mt. Production increased for both metallurgical and thermal coal.”
Though Moatize is located in the landlocked western province of Tete, and logistics to transport the mine’s production to ports has improved.
“Logistics operations in Mozambique also reached all-time records, with railed volume reaching 3.1 Mt in 2Q17, 15% higher than in 1Q17.”
The coal was taken down both the Sena line, to the port city of Beira, and the Nacala line, named after the harbour city it runs to. The volume of coal loaded on ships and exported during 2Q17 came to 3.1 Mt, a 19% increase on the 1Q17 number of 2.6 Mt.
