Mozambique Mining Energy Conference - 26-28 Março 2014

‘MMEC 2014 was one of the best conferences I have attended in the past five yeas, and I have been to many. The quality of participants and presentations was amazing. I would highly recommend MMEC 5 to anyone who is serious about investing in Mozambique’s oil and gas play. I am definitely planning to attend MMEC 2016.’Senior Manager/International Finance Global Programs Division Africa – AECOM

Since its inception in 2008, MMEC has become the definitive platform for members of Mozambique’s mining, oil & gas and power sectors to meet, discuss and learn. The event has evolved along the way, with the 4th edition featuring three concurrent conference streams and a separate training day focusing on investment law and policy for non-lawyers.

The conference was officially opened by His Excellency Armando Guebuza, President of the Republic of Mozambique.

MMEC has been consistently organised with the institutional support and input from all key Mozambican stakeholders, making it truly reflective of this great country and its needs, aspirations and achievements. Furthermore, keeping the event bi-annual, rather than annual, permits time to chew over deliberations and set milestones for achievement before returning to review targets, assess progress and evaluate what needs to be done over the next two-year period.

The organising committee of MMEC 2014 would like to thank all of our speakers, participants and exhibitors for making the 2014 edition of this event possible. Special thanks are reserved for our 13 sponsors.

The 4th MMEC featured a pre – conference training, a two day conference with three concurrent streams.

    

 SAVE THE DATE FOR THE 5TH EDITION OF MMEC

27-28 APRIL 2016

Why attend MMEC?

• Established event! This is the longest running event covering Mozambique’s Mining, Oil&Gas and Power Generation sectors, now on its fourth edition the MMEC counts with the support at the highest levels of public and private sector. Click here for information regarding the previous editions.
• Knowledge! MMEC’s two day Conference will feature 8 sessions and 4 workshops, with experts of the industry discussing issues ranging from Legal Framework to Gas developments to Mining activities and Financing. Whether your a veteran or a newcomer to Mozambique, you will benefit from the experience shared by our expert panels. Click here to see the provisional program.
• Networking! With networking lunches, coffee breaks and evening functions, the MMEC creates an environment conducive to business development unique to Mozambique.  The last edition of the conference was attended by over 500 participants from 32 countries, including policy makers, investors, experts, development partners and other key stakeholders in Mozambique’s Mining, Oil&Gas and Power Generation sectors.
• Latest technologies and products! MMEC hosts one of the largest trade exhibitions in Mozambique and certainly the largest for the Mining, Oil&Gas and Power Generation sectors, our exhibitors come from all over the world to showcase the latest technology and products available on the market.

Mozambique: Nacala Integrated Logistics Corridor Launched

Maputo — The first trainloads of coal along a railway from the Moatize coal basin through Malawi should reach the new port of Nacala-a-Velha in northern Mozambique in September.

The government has signed a concession on the new port and on coal traffic along the railway with the Integrated Nacala Logistics Corridor (CLN), a consortium that is 80 per cent owned by the Brazilian mining giant Vale, and 20 per cent by Mozambique's publicly owned port and rail company, CFM.

At a Maputo ceremony launching CLN, consortium officials said the entire project is costing 4.4 billion US dollars. The coal terminal at Nacala-a-Velha, built on the opposite side of Nacala Bay from the existing port of Nacala, will be able to export 18 million tones of coal a year.

The railway runs for over 900 kilometres, and CLN's projections are for about 20 coal trains a day. This will require a fleet of 100 locomotives and 2,700 wagons. 12 ships a month are expected to call at the coal terminal.

Vale opted for a new port and railway when it became clear that the existing Sena line, from Moatize to the port of Beira, could not possibly cope with the forecast coal exports. Even with planned upgrading, the capacity of the Sena line is no more than 12 million tonnes a year. But within the next few years the potential coal exports from the Moatize basin could reach 100 million tonnes a year.

Transport Minister Gabriel Muthisse noted that the existing railway from Malawi to Nacala is only handling around two million tonnes of cargo a year. With the new port at Nacala-a-Velha and the CLN investments in the railway, there will be a dramatic increase, and Muthisse believed that in the near future the line will be carrying 24 million tonnes of coal and cargo.

A different consortium, the Northern Development Corridor (CDN) already holds the concession on the railway for general traffic, and Muthisse pointed out that the two consortia will have to work together.

He warned that “the markets are very demanding and we are not the only suppliers. The coal chain of value goes from the mine right up to the final destination. It is no good extracting the coal efficiently at the mine, if there is no efficiency along the railway and at the port”.

Any lack of transport efficiency “and Moatize coal will lose its competitiveness”, Muthisse said. “Not a single kilo of coal should remain heaped up at Moatize. This depends on the operations of the railway, the port and the shipping companies”.

The same held true for copper from Zambia, or from the Democratic Republic of Congo. That was cargo that could use Nacala - but only if the transport system was efficient and competitive. Otherwise, warned Muthisse, exporters of the copper might prefer to use Durban, Dar es Salaam, or even Mombasa.

Vale officials told AIM that work on the railway will be complete by September. It has involved a new rail link to connect Moatize to the Malawian rail system, and major upgrading to the Malawian part of the line. The railway enters Mozambique again at Entre-Lagos, and the 77 kilometre stretch between Entre-Lagos and the city of Cuamba is being effectively rebuilt. There is also an entirely new stretch of line branching off the existing rail corridor and reaching the Nacala-a-Velha coal terminal.