Thungela Resources could use further improvements in Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) capacity to move more third-party coal to Richards Bay, as its South African mines are already operating close to their installed export production capacity.
The coal miner’s CFO Deon Smith said in an interview following the group’s interim results on Monday that Thungela has installed capacity of about 13 million tons to 14Mt a year of its own export equity coal across Zibulo, Annea, Mafube and Greenside.
This is roughly in line with its 2026 production forecast of 13Mt to 13.6Mt.
“To the extent that rail is above that, we are able obviously to fall back with third-party coal, which is what you would have seen in the first half this year,” Smith said.
“We sold about 600,000 tons of third-party coal, utilising excess rail,” he added.
Additional rail capacity beyond Thungela’s production from its South African operations could give the miner an opportunity to supplement export volumes with coal sourced from third parties.
TFR performance
CEO Moses Madondo said the company was encouraged by the recovery in rail performance and had shown that it could respond when additional capacity became available.
“I’m pleased to see the improvement in rail and as you can see, we’ve been able to take advantage of opportunities of the improvement in Transnet has brought about.”
Madondo told MiningMX the coal miner expected further progress to be gradual, pointing to year-on-year improvements of between 5% and 9%.
“And of course, if there is more, we’ve had the ability to react and put more on rail.”
The improvement comes after years in which deteriorating rail performance constrained South African coal exporters.
TFR coal volumes improved to 56.8Mt in 2025 from 51.9Mt in 2024 – a 5.5% improvement, according to Thungela.
The company has credited collaboration between Transnet, the National Logistics Crisis Committee and the coal industry for the recovery.
The improvement has continued into 2026.
Thungela said in its interim results that the North Corridor had reached an annualised run rate of 59.9Mt, from 56.8Mt in the previous year.
Transnet previously said it was targeting coal export volumes of between 61Mt and 65Mt for the 2026/27 period.
Growth opportunities
With Thungela’s South African operations producing at around their current installed export capacity, the group continues to weigh opportunities for future growth.
Asked what those opportunities could look like, Madondo said Thungela continued to assess assets where it believed it could add value.
The comments come after Thungela recently appeared to put major dealmaking on the back burner.
This followed Thungela’s 2025 results, published in March, when the group reported R8.8bn in asset impairments, partly related to Ensham, its Australian thermal coal operation acquired as part of its geographic diversification strategy.
Said Madondo: “We look at many opportunities, but it’s always targeted on our ability to add value in those assets. Ensham is a good example of that.”
According to Thungela’s interim results, Ensham’s export saleable production increased to 2.2Mt from 1.6Mt in the prior period.
Asked whether Thungela could become more geographically diversified over the next five years, Madondo left the possibility open.
“Australia was obviously the first place where we landed,” he said, because of the quality of the asset.
“In five years, we could still be around in South Africa, or Australia or it could be more. It will be a function of where those opportunities show us the best value.”
