The second phase expansion of the Mozal aluminium smelter near Maputo which is expected to provide a substantial boost to the Mozambican economy will be officially inaugurated on Wednesday.
Operated by the world’s largest commodity group, BHP Billiton plc, which owns a 47% stake in the project that it co-owns with Japan’s Mitsubishi (25%), the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC)(24%) and the Mozambican government (4%), Mozal has already been producing aluminium since April — five months ahead of schedule.
Phase 1 of the project, which was commissioned in May 1998, was completed in 31 months and was $100-million under budget. The second phase, which will double the output of the smelter from 253 000 tons per year to 506 000 tons per year of primary ingots, was completed in August at $195-million under budget.
This means that the total cost to completion of the project is expected to be well below the $860-million budgeted for the project.
Full production is expected to be reached in the fourth quarter of 2003.
Says Mike Salamon, executive director and president of aluminium at BHP Billiton: “The Mozal expansion project, like BHP Billiton’s other southern African aluminium smelter projects before it, has surpassed both its time and financial targets.
“We now look forward to a safe and successful ramp-up to full production capacity of 506 000 tons per annum by calender year end.
According to Mozal general manager Peter Wilshaw a number of safety records were set during the second phase of the project with zero environmental incidents reported. Zero man-hours were also lost — impressive considering a total of 14 million man-hours were worked during the period.
During the expansion phase, the construction force peaked at 5 033, 70% of whom were Mozambican nationals.
On the choice of Mozambique as the site for the smelter, Wilshaw says the country was chosen because of a competitive power supply, the availability of raw materials, investment incentives offered by the Mozambican government, the availability of labour and links with the global economy.
When the project was initiated Mozambique was coming out of a 17-year civil war, per capita income was about $80 to $90 per annum with a population heavily reliant on subsistence agriculture.
“The Mozal project fitted with the economic transition of Mozambique, which started in the 1990s,” Wilshaw states.
The Mozal project allowed Mozambique to optimise the Cahora Bassa hydro electric power plant, initiate a mega project, kick start the country’s economy and fight poverty.
“Mozal also allowed the Mozambican government to demonstrate to the world that the country is open for business,” Wilshaw adds. – I-Net Bridge