Coal Production In Mozambique

Consumption and production

• Mozambique holds 1,975 million tons of proven coal reserves as of 2016, ranking 26th in the world and accounting for about 0% of the world’s total coal reserves of 1,139,471 million tons.
• Mozambique has proven reserves equivalent to 162,909.1 times its annual consumption. This means it has about 162,909 years of Coal left (at current consumption levels and excluding unproven reserves).
• Mozambique produces 6,818,889.66 tons (short tons, “st”) of Coal per year (as of 2016) ranking 29th in the world.

Coal Exports

Mozambique exports increased by 122% of its Coal production (8,321,738 tons) in 2016.

For that indicator, we provide data for Mozambique from 1980 to 2019. The average value for Mozambique during that period was 1888.87 thousand short tons with a minimum of 0 thousand short tons in 1980 and a maximum of 16648.93 thousand short tons in 2018. The latest value of Coal production in Mozambique from 2019 is 14121.17 thousand short tons. For comparison, the world average in 2019 based on 192 countries is 8373.40 thousand short tons. See the global rankings for that indicator or use the country comparator to compare trends over time.

Some of the major coalfields are agreeably sited in the Tete Province near the Zambezi River and close to the main trunk road from Zimbabwe to Mozambique’s second port of Beira. Gas fields are comfortably accessible in the sheltered Mozambique Channel.

The virtually inexhaustible reserves of coal will stimulate new thermal power station build while Frost & Sullivan estimate that there are nearly 60 multi million-dollar ongoing infrastructure projects in the country, of which 10 are multi billion-dollar projects.

The power-hungry mining industry will for now meet its electricity needs through the use of diesel generators while Mozambique completes several capacity-building projects in the energy sector to meet projected increases in demand. Some $23bn is being spent over the next decade on the construction of a number of trunk roads destroyed in the civil war, along with the development of the Nacala – Beira – Maputo corridors.

The string of discoveries of coal reserves, largely free of impurities, has attracted world mining attention and exploration successes have conferred the title of “the natatorium of coal mines” because Mozambique is a virtual “swimming pool of coal deposits”. More than any other non-fossil mineral, coal equals energy at an affordable level, while the same can be said for the Zambezi River and the potential it holds for hydro power. As a result of successes for exploration, Mozambique is fast becoming a region of global significance for the coal sector. Coal majors are now entering into strategic partnerships with companies that have technical expertise in coal mining and exploring in Mozambique