The Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) was planning a 19-million-ton-a-year capacity expansion, to 110-million tons a year, to respond to the call for more capacity allocation for junior miners, RBCT CEO Nosipho Siwisa-Damasane said last week.

Currently, the terminal’s capacity is 91- million tons a year of which four-million tons is allocated to 23 junior miners through the Quattro programme, with an additional 15-million tons a year allocated to emerging black export miners, including the three- million tons a year allocated to State-owned power utility Eskom.

“Through this [planned] expansion we [aim to] provide export access to meet all aspirant coal exporters requirements, while [giving them] the advantage of the efficiencies of a bulk handling facility,” Siwisa-Damasane explained during a media visit to the terminal.

The infrastructure requirements of this expansion, which was currently in the prefeasibility phase, included the procurement of one additional tippler and one additional shiploader, the extension of the existing stockyard area, the construction of additional conveyors, towers and silos and the reconfiguration of the substation, she said.

RBCT chairperson Mike Teke said RBCT was aiming to develop the additional capacity in conjunction with freight logistics group Transnet and government.

Teke confirmed that RBCT management had already met with Transnet on the topic of the expansion.

“The question [now] is us finding each other in terms of taking this forward,” Teke said.

Siwisa-Damasane explained that RBCT did want to undertake the expansion in conjunction with Transnet as it was important to ensure that the entire supply chain was catered for, of which rail was a large component.

In October last year, Transnet group CEO Brian Molefe had said that too few emerging coal juniors were being allowed to put their coal through RBCT into global markets, stating that it was considering building another terminal next to RBCT to serve this market.

However, Siwisa-Damasane pointed out that there were various advantages associated with RBCT’s expansion as opposed to the construction of a completely new terminal, such as the availability of existing berths and infrastructure that would lead to a lower cost.

She explained that RBCT had two existing berths available that no greenfield developer would have, stating that it was the “heaviest” investment associated with the creation of an export terminal.