SOUTH Africa’s coal industry may struggle to supply more than about 75 million tonnes a year to the Richards Bay export corridor even if Transnet restores rail capacity above that level, Exxaro Resources CEO Ben Magara said.
That could leave extra export capacity for producers such as Exxaro.
“I am not convinced the coal industry itself can supply beyond 75Mt, but Exxaro can,” Magara told an analyst presentation on Thursday following the coal miner’s interim results announcement.
“We have enough resource to supply,” he said, citing life-of-mine extensions and the possibility of taking up other producers’ unused export entitlement, either by buying or leasing it.
“If the coal industry can’t meet beyond 75Mt and Transnet wants to go up to 80, Exxaro has the volume.”
The comments came after former Exxaro CEO Con Fauconnier questioned Magara on how much coal the Richards Bay corridor could realistically handle over the next decade.
“I don’t want to let you off the hook totally on this Transnet thing,” Fauconnier said during a question-and-answer-session.
“Round figures, you said – about 60Mt down to Richards Bay at an industry level is where we are now.”
Fauconnier recalled the expansion of Richards Bay Coal Terminal around 2006, saying: “When I was still working – we signed off on 90Mt. And then it dropped, and dropped and dropped.”
“I think we probably never got beyond 72Mt and then it went right down.”
Fauconnier was CEO of Kumba Resources before becoming Exxaro’s first CEO when the company was formed in 2006 – around the time the coal industry was backing the Phase 5 expansion of RBCT to about 91Mt a year.
Fauconnier asked what volumes could realistically be achieved over the next 10 years and whether the coal industry had a collective view on capacity.
“Because if we can get transport right in this country, SA is going to look a lot different,” Fauconnier said.
Magara said Fauconnier was right about the terminal’s roughly 91Mt capacity, recalling their involvement in the expansion.
“You and me signed for RBCT to go up to 91Mt per year,” Magara said, adding that actual throughput peaked at about 76Mt.
“Phase 5 of RBCT was supposed to take it to 91Mt.”
Transnet’s coal volumes subsequently dropped to about 48Mt a year but have since been recovering in annual increments of between 5% and 8%, Magara said. Throughput is now close to 60Mt.
Exxaro’s half-year results showed Transnet Freight Rail delivered 30.95Mt to RBCT in the six months to June, equivalent to an annualised 59.9Mt, up 5% from 56.8Mt in 2025.
Exxaro is already seeing an improvement on the rail line serving its Grootegeluk mine in Limpopo. Magara said the C-line had capacity of about 4Mt a year, although this is shared between coal and ferrochrome producers.
Exxaro has moved about 600,000 tonnes on the route so far, which Magara said would equate to roughly 1.2Mt if annualised.
Asked whether Exxaro could increase that further, Magara said: “Absolutely.”
“We still have a lot of scope,” he said. “Are we happy with where we are in the Waterberg? No, we want more from the C-line from Grootegeluk.”
