23 May 2011
Maputo — The Mozambican government could within months announce its decision on the environmental viability of shipping coal along the Zambezi River from the mine at Benga, in the western province of Tete, according to a report in Monday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.
On Friday in Maputo the final public consultation meeting was held on the environmental impact study, which will be submitted to the Council of Ministers (Cabinet) next month.
The use of the Zambezi for exporting coal through the port of Beira is being considered because the Sena railway line will not be able to shift the huge amount of coal that will shortly be mined in the region. Its capacity, once the rail link is finally completed, is estimated to be only around six million tonnes per year.
The Australian mining company Riversdale (recently taken over by Rio Tinto) forecasts that Benga will produce 10 million tonnes of coal a year. Its mine in the adjacent Zambeze concession area will in late 2014 begin producing perhaps as much as 25 million tonnes a year. A third Riversdale area, Tete East, could contribute a further 10 million tonnes.
On top of this comes the production from other mining companies – the Brazilian mining giant Vale is expecting to produce 25 million tonnes a year from its Moatize concession, and smaller companies could add another 15 million tonnes. So by the end of this decade, 85 million tonnes of coal a year could be exported from Tete.
Riversdale therefore hired Environment Resources Southern Africa to carry out, in partnership with the Mozambican company Impacto, an environmental impact assessment on the likely effect of barging coal down the Zambezi River. The results of this study suggest that using barges would cause no significant environmental damage.
The draft report submitted to civil society speaks of minimal impact to the environment for two reasons.
Firstly, the barges would not need changes to the hydrological regime (there would be no need for locks or other alterations to change the flow of water).
Secondly, although dredging would take place, the sediment from this process would be moved to other parts of the riverbed.
At the public consultation concerns were raised about dangers posed to fishing by possible oil spills or coal dust.
According to Victor Hugo Nicolau, the consultant who presented the study, Riversdale plans to compartmentalise fuel storage within the barges to ensure that if there was an accident only a small amount of fuel could escape.
However, he admitted that there are three particular locations that would be under constant environmental stress: Benga, where the barges would arrive and depart; Mutarara, an intermediate location for loading and unloading; and Chinde at the mouth of the Zambezi, where coal would be trans-shipped onto larger ocean-going vessels.
The coal would be transported in a “train” of eight small barges without engines, which would be driven by an appropriate boat. Each barge would have the capacity to carry 2,500 tonnes of coal.
If approved, river transport would reduce the logistical problems in exporting the coal. Another scheme under consideration is the building of a new railway from Moatize to the northern port of Nacala, which would run across southern Malawi.
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Continued here:
Decision on Zambezi Coal Barges Due Within Months