Frustrated ore miners offer to buy own trains
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Companies gripe as boom passes them by
Resources Editor
PATRICE Motsepe`s African Rainbow Minerals might purchase two trains to transport manganese from Northern Cape to the coast, the company`s new CE, Andre Wilkins, said yesterday.
And it was also confirmed yesterday that SA`s largest iron-ore producer, Kumba Resources, has made an offer to Spoornet to fund the purchase of new trains for the Sishen-Saldanha line.
The mining companies are seeking every imaginable way to boost rail capacity so that they can mine and export more ore, taking advantage of the China-led commodities boom .
Wilkens said the purchase of two trains was designed to boost capacity on the railway line to Port Elizabeth, so that more manganese could be mined and exported.
`The opportunity to use the ore body better is linked to more rail capacity, and we are investigating the best opportunities to achieve this,` said Wilkins.
`There is an opportunity to acquire some of our own trains some are available in Africa at reasonable prices,` he said.
The purchase of the two trains would likely be made through Assmang the listed joint venture between African Rainbow Minerals and Assore which mines manganese, iron ore and chrome.
In another development, a spokesman for Kumba said yesterday his company had also offered to fund the purchase of more rolling stock for the dedicated iron-ore line between Sishen and Saldanha.
Kumba CE Con Fauconnier recently said the company needed just three more trains to boost capacity on the line by 12-million tons a year. He said SA could double its iron-ore sales to China if not for transport constraints.
`When Fauconnier was in China recently, the Chinese told him they would be happy to buy him a train, and he could pay them back in iron ore,` the Kumba spokesman said.
A number of options had been put to Spoornet, he said, including the funding of trains.
The parastatal is wary of handing control of the railways to the private sector, although Public Services Minister Aler Erwin said recently there could be a role for public-private sector partnerships, which could include the use of private capital to expand capacity on the Sishen-Saldanha line.
`We would like to see more rail capacity sooner rather than later,` Minerals and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said this week.
`There is room for public-private partnership, but we are not comfortable in having all the assets run privately.`
She said Erwin recently announced plans to spend R165bn on transport and electricity infrastructure and urged those involved to fast-track their planning, `so when the money starts to flow, we will be able to execute the projects efficiently`.
The Chamber of Mines noted this week that `SA`s bulk commodity exporters have been unable to respond to the demand created by the global commodity boom because rail and port infrastructures are inadequate. Spoornet is providing a deteriorating service to its customers it appears unable to solve its problems on its own.`
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