Africa-Press – South-Africa. Transnet announced on Tuesday that it would double rail and port capacity for emerging manganese miners, effectively reducing allocations for established miners from April 2023 by 2 million tonnes.
The allocations are on lines from the Northern Cape to the ports of Gqeberha and Saldanha. Manganese exports have increased steadily since 2016, but rail constraints have forced much of the commodity onto the roads, which is more expensive for miners. Around 25% of total rail capacity will, in the future, be dedicated to emerging miners.
Transnet said in a statement that it intended to further increase allocations to emerging miners, increasing the number with access to port and rail from four to 11. It said that seven new entrants would be introduced by the beginning of the financial year. The conditions for qualification include a valid mining licence, active mining operations and access to a rail loading facility.
It said:
Transnet said it would continue to implement step changes to drive the growth of emerging miners by rebasing the allocation ratio between emerging and major miners, easing ways of doing business (such as contracting, credit management, and capacity application processes), and improving access to infrastructure for emerging miners, such as loading facilities.
An audit by consultancy AmaranthCX in 2020 found that SA has 22 active manganese miners, only four of which were listed on the JSE. The largest companies in the sector include South32, Anglo American and Assmang – in which African Rainbow Minerals has a 50% stake.
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