The miner has warned curtailment of aluminium production in Mozambique is possible as civil unrest hampers operations.
Mixed metals miner South32 has warned curtailment of aluminium production in Mozambique is possible as civil unrest hampers operations in the African nation.
The Perth-headquartered miner has been dealing with road blockages at its smelter near the nation’s capital of Maputo due to protests over the country’s election.
South32 told the ASX on Thursday it expected to re-build alumina stocks at its Mozal Aluminium smelter should trucking conditions “remain favourable”.
“Over the past few days, road blockages have largely cleared and we have been able to safely transport alumina from port to Mozal Aluminium,” the miner said.
“While the situation has improved, any escalation in civil unrest, including following announcement of the election results by the Mozambique Constitutional Council, expected on 23 December 2024, has the potential to impact our critical trucking activity and operations at Mozal Aluminium.
“Our workforce is safe and there have been no security incidents at Mozal Aluminium.”
South32 said ongoing disruptions to trucking may require the company to take further action, including curtailment, which would leave the miner selling alumina from Worsley to third party customers at market price.
In early December South32 retracted Mozal Aluminium output forecasts due the protests over a disputed election result.
Two months on from that result in which accusations of fraud have been levelled against incumbent and winner Daniel Chapo, violence has caused dozens of deaths and resulted in hundreds of arrests.
Excessive use of force by the police has been called out by the United Nations.
Mozambique’s interior minister Pascoal Ronda has described the protests as acts of terrorism and suggested youths were being “drugged” to destabilise the nation, according to the BBC.
Mozal has continued to export during the unrest, but power supply to the smelter has been reduced to preserve raw materials.
South32 is the latest of a string of Australian companies to run into difficulty in Africa due to issues with foreign governments this year.
Resolute Mining was forced to pay $US160 million to the government of Mali after its chief executive had been detained.
Indiana Resources took the Tanzanian government to arbitration over the expropriation of its Ntaka Hill nickel project.
Base Resources’ mineral sands plans in Madagascar stalled for six years when negotiations broke down with that nation’s government.
The company says relationships have improved since a new government was elected in November 2023.
The journalist is a South32 shareholder.
