Rio Tinto has suspended using the vital rail line that it and other mining companies operating in Mozambique rely on to export coal in the wake of threats made by former rebels to sabotage the network.
Last week, Renamo, which fought a 15-year civil war with the governing Frelimo party, was blamed for several attacks in the central Sofala province, after it had threatened to disrupt the Sena rail line and roads in the area.
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The single-track line has not yet been targeted, but it is the only rail network available to mining companies operating in the north-western province of Tete to transport their coal to the Indian Ocean port of Beira.
“We have currently paused operations on the rail line while we assess the current situation,” Rio said.
Rio produces thermal and coking coal from its Benga mine in the Moatize basin and has been transporting eight to nine trains of coal per week, each ferrying 2,500 tons.
Vale, the Brazilian company that is the other main coal producer in Tete, said it was still using the track but had increased security.
We are alert, observing events, avoiding unnecessary exposure in areas of possible clashes,” it said.
The threats by Renamo are the latest setback to coal miners operating in Mozambique as they have faced massive infrastructure challenges that have delayed companies meeting their export targets.
In January, Rio announced a $3bn writedown on its Mozambique assets, which it had paid $3.7bn for two years earlier, because of the logistical bottlenecks and downward revisions of its coking coal resources.
The Moatize basin has been described as one of the world’s richest under-developed reserves of coking coal, which is used to make steel. But the Sena line is old, has limited capacity and is a multipurpose line used for passenger trains and other goods. Alternative networks, which will cost billions of dollars, have yet to be built.
Earlier in the year, mining houses were unable to transport coal for about a month after heavy rains washed out a section of the track.
The political tensions also threaten to taint the image of Mozambique as an investment destination as the nation attracts increasing attention because of its coal and gas resources.
Some 110tn cubic feet of gas has been found off Mozambique’s Indian Ocean coast where Italy’s Eni and the US’s Anadarko are operating with predictions that the southern African nation could become a major LNG exporter.
The country has been stable since the conflict ended in 1992 and few believe a new war could erupt, but the attacks blamed on Renamo have caused unease.
Tensions between Renamo and Frelimo heightened in April after Renamo failed to secure election reforms as the nation prepares for local polls in November and national elections in 2014.
Renamo and Frelimo have held talks for weeks in an effort to ease the situation, but relations between the rival movements remain strained.
Armando Guebuza, the president, said on Sunday that the government would “willingly” take part in the talks to “try to resolve the problems facing the country”.
“Despite the dangerous provocations by Renamo, Mozambique will continue to live in peace and the government will continue to participate in dialogue with Renamo,” he told Radio Mozambique.
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