The Mozambican government has authorised the sale of the coal mines and remaining operations in the country that belong to Brazil’s Vale to India’s Vulcan Minerals a deal worth US$270 million (€245 million) announced in December.
“I authorise the indirect transfer of the entire shareholding held by Vale to Vulcan in the Moatize mine,” reads the order signed by the minister of mineral resources and energy, Carlos Zacarias, on Wednesday and released today.
The mines are located in Tete province, in the interior of Mozambique, and the deal also includes the 1,000-kilometre railway line used to export coal through the port of Nacala, in northern Mozambique.
According to the order, Vale now has ten days to pay the capital gains tax (the amount of which was not detailed) to the Mozambican state for the order to become “effective.
Vale had been in Mozambique for 15 years and announced at the beginning of 2021 its “goal of no longer owning coal assets” and to focus on “low carbon mining.”
Vulcan is a private Indian company that is part of the Jindal Group, with a market value of US$18 billion (€15.9 billion) and is already present in Mozambique, operating the Chirodzi mine, also in the Tete region.
