Exxaro mulls expanding DRC iron ore project

Pretoria last week, referring to plans to deliver a revised production schedule in July.
Exxaro, South Africa’s second-largest coal company, plans to boost profitability by expanding into iron ore at the Mayoko project and elsewhere after a failed bid for Australian producer Territory Resources Ltd.
The coal miner’s holding in Kumba Iron Ore Ltd.’s Sishen mine added 4,5 billion rand (US$582 million) to after-tax profit in 2011, or 58 percent of the total.
“We’re going to look beyond this one over a period of time for other opportunities,” Nkosi said.
“Australia will always be a very good destination, and so is South America.”
Exxaro is reviewing work at Mayoko by African Iron Ltd., which it bought for A$313 million (US$321 million) in March, and will negotiate with Congo on access to rail and port facilities and upgrade costs once revised plans are complete, he said.
The port at Pointe-Noire will have to be expanded to handle an estimated 40 million to 50 million tonnes of ore annually for Exxaro, Xstrata Plc sand Equatorial Resources Ltd., Nkosi said. — Bloomberg.