Coal to China set to continue while Asian giant not buying from Australia
JOHANNESBURG – The export of South African coal to China is poised to continue while China decides not to buy Australian coal, Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg said during this week’s Glencore media conference.
“China still imports round about 185-million tons to
190-million tons of seaborne coal. They like to import the better quality
coals, and therefore to substitute the Australian better quality coal.
Indonesia and Russia do supply them, but they need other sources of supply once
Australia is out of the market,” Glasenberg said in response to Mining Weekly.
“South Africa has picked up a good portion of the Australian
coal that went into China. We’re shipping round about two to three Capes a
month into China and hopefully that will continue while the spat continues
between China and Australia.
“Naturally those tons that we now move to China means less
tons for India, which means Australia will be supplying those tons that went to
China to India. So, the trade routes are changing somewhat and naturally that puts
pressure on the freight rates, but someone in the end has to absorb that extra
freight rate. I think that will continue for as long as the battle exists
between Australia and China,” said Glasenberg.
Glencore is planning to deplete its coal mines globally as
part of its commitment to mitigate climate change.
Asked by Mining Weekly whether it would be taking part in
the planned just transition out of fossil fuels as coal-fired power stations
close and Glencore’s coal mines in South Africa close, Glasenberg said what the
company was also doing in South Africa was helping to develop other forms of
energy.
The company’s ferrochrome business was looking at other
sources of energy, including solar, and supporting other parties who were able
to supply solar energy. The company had comprehensive closure plans that
included taking care of the communities surrounding the mines as the mines
close, “like we do in all parts of the world, and South Africa will be no
different”.
Incoming Glencore CEO Gary Nagle said some of Glencore’s
South African coal mines would close in the 2030s, and the others over the next
20 years.
As Glencore grows in copper, cobalt, nickel, zinc, aluminium
and vanadium, it will be depleting its global coal production, which represents
its biggest decarbonisation step.
It has published its pathway to net-zero total carbon
dioxide emissions, with a large part of the 40%-by-2035 targeted reduction
being coal depletion.
By 2050, its South African and Colombian coal operations
will be shut and Australian coal mines largely depleted.
It will also reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions through
energy efficiency and fuel switching at its operations. Besides its primary
coal depletion, its other mines will also get to zero-emission through offsets
and efficiencies, primarily from carbon capture and storage.
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