THE COST OF MOVING MANGANESE

Standard Bank’s SBG securities unit analyst Heidi Sternberg, quoted in April, said upgrading existing infrastructure for railing manganese from Hotazel in the Northern Cape to Port Elizabeth would cost four to five times as much as would expanding the capacity of the line to Saldanha. Apparently Transnet’s own calculations concluded that the Eastern Cape option would cost less than this. Transnet Port Terminals chief executive Karl Socikwa has confirmed that the manganese terminal currently at Port Elizabeth is to be moved to nearby Ngqura by 2014 or 2015. Manganese will continue to be railed to the Eastern Cape, and not Saldanha.