Maputo (Mozambique) – The production and export of aluminium from the Mozal foundry in Mozambique has fallen below projected levels due to the energy crisis affecting South Africa, the company’s managing director, Raitt Marshal said recently at a public meeting.
According to a report in Notícias newspaper, Marshal said at the meeting that Mozal had been given instructions to reduce its electricity consumption by around 10 percent, which implied halting production at 47 of 500 furnaces at the foundry.
The electricity sued by Mozal is supplied by Mozambican power company Motraco, which is owned by Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM), Swaziland’s SEB and South Africa’s Eskom, although it is effectively supplied by Eskom alone.
Since the launch of the second phase of the Mozal project, in August 2003, aluminium production at the foundry has doubled, from 253,000 tonnes to 506,000 tonnes per year.
As a result of Mozal’s production, export revenues to Mozambique increased by around US$220 million to around US$1 billion, as well as the volume of transactions doubling from Mozal's aluminium sales to the international market.
