Overview

Mine Type	Open Pit
Status	Active
Commodities	Coal (metallurgical) Coal (thermal)
Mining Method	Truck & Shovel / Loader
Production Start	...
Mine Life	...
Snapshot	The Moatize Coal Mine is present in the coal industry, an essential input for the transformation of iron ore into steel, and produces essentially two types of coal: metallurgical coal and thermal coal. The coal operation has an integrated logistics chain that includes rail and port through Nacala Logistics, a rail-port company, responsible for managing the Nacala-à-Velha Multipurpose Port Terminal and the 1,600 km of the railway system. The Brazilian mining giant Vale concluded the sale of its Mozambican coal production assets (the Moatize coal mine and the Nacala Logistical Corridor) to Vulcan Minerals, a subsidiary of India-based Jindal Group, on April 25, 2022. The new owner has not published any production data since acquiring the assets.

Deposit type

• Sedimentary

Summary:

The Matinde formation is the uppermost Karoo formation in the Tete/Moatize area and is comprised of a uniform series of coarse, highly compact cross bedded sandstones with locally developed conglomerates. Thin high ash coal and carbonaceous shales occur intermittently throughout the Matinde formation, but are not of economical value.

In the Moatize-Minjova basin, economically significant coal seams are present at intervals over a total stratigraphic thickness of 317 m within the Serie Produtiva only. It consists of a sequence of shales, mudstones and siltstones, intercalated with coal seams and carbonaceous shales. The sediments were deposited in a deltaic environment under stable conditions and slow subsidence. Coal is contained in six multi-seam coal bearing zones known stratigraphically from the youngest to the oldest as:
- Andre (± 1.5 m).
- Grand Falesia (± 11 m).
- Intermedia (± 9 m).
- Bananeiras (± 40 m).
- Chipanga (± 35 m).
- Souza Pinto (± 13 m).

Seams consist of bright coal, mainly vitrinite, alternating with dull detrital coal, carbonaceous shale and shale. The shale to coal ratio in the Chipanga seam is in the order of 60/40.

The Chipanga Seam is economically the most important of the coal seams, as it is thicker and laterally more extensive and therefore has the largest reserves.

The Moatize-Minjova Coal basin is a NW-SE trending graben, 20 km long and 7 km wide, associated with the Zambezi Valley distension zone. The graben is bounded by normal faults with throws of between 500 m and 800 m, which are marked by thick fault breccias.

Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Processing

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Production

Commodity	Units	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015
Coal (metallurgical)	kt	....	....	4,032	6,161	6,953	3,480	3,401
Coal (thermal)	kt	....	....	4,738	5,444	4,307	2,012	1,560

Operational metrics

Metrics	2023
Coal tonnes mined
Hourly processing capacity	....
Annual processing capacity	....

Personnel

Job Title	Name	Profile	Ref. Date
.......................	.......................		Sep 29, 2024