India-based Essar Global is to build a terminal in the Mozambican port city of Beira to handle iron ore exports from Zimbabwe, according to London-based Securities Africa. Essar Global plans to export up to 20 million metric tons of iron ore a year via the terminal in question, as reported by Bloomberg on June 14.
Essar's Africa director Firdhose Coovadia stated that the Indian company will also build a slurry pipeline to transport iron ore slurry from its Manisi and Ripple Creek mines to the port.
Essar Group, through its Essar Africa Holdings unit, took control of 54 percent of Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Corp. (ZISCO) on March 9 this year in a deal worth about $750 million. ZISCO also owns the Buchwa iron ore mine in Zimbabwe.
Essar's slurry pipeline from Zimbabwe to Beira could become the world's biggest, surpassing a 396 kilometer-long pipeline carrying ore from Essar's Germano mine to the Hazira steel plant in Brazil, Securities Africa said.