The government guarantees that it intends to preserve the operation of the coal extraction and export project in Moatize, Tete provinceas soon as the exit of the Brazilian multinational Vale is consummated.

The Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Max Tonela, assured that the Government has been monitoring the process, ensuring that the continuity of operations of the coal mining enterprise in Moatize and the Nacala corridor are not jeopardized.

According to the minister, who was speaking recently in Maputo, negotiations between Vale and the Japanese company Mitsui, which owns shares in the project, are in the final stages of reaching an agreement to transfer the interests of the Japanese company to Vale, so that the Brazilian mining company can then sell the entire coal mining project to a new entity. 

Vale and Mitsui have "executed a definitive agreement on the transfer of interests" from the Japanese company to the Brazilian one, which in turn is expected to sell the entire coal extraction and export project to a new entity. The transaction between Vale and Mitsui "is expected to be completed over the course of 2021, following the fulfillment of preliminary conditions, including approvals from the relevant regulatory authorities."

Mozambique is among the 10 largest coal producers in the world. In Tete, large deposits of metallurgical and thermal coal have been discovered.

Coal is one of the country's main natural resources and is concentrated in the inland province of Tete. Companies such as Vale, Rio Tinto, Jindal and Minas de Moatize exploit this mineral resource.

Vale employs about 8,000 people, close to 3,000 of its own workers and the rest subcontracted, and coal is currently one of the country's main export products, destined mainly for Asia. Before selling the entire enterprise, Vale is making investments with which it hopes to achieve an upturn in production, reaching 15 million tons of coal in 2021 - after 5.1 million tons in 2020. Over 10 years of operations in Mozambique, only in two (2017 and 2018) has the company made a profit in the country.