By Paul Kiernan
RIO DE JANEIRO--Brazilian mining company Vale SA said Wednesday
it has suspended coal shipments from its mines in Mozambique after
a train conductor was injured in an attack that authorities are
blaming on former rebel group Renamo.
The company said the conductor is in stable condition after
being shot in the leg Tuesday night, when a Vale train carrying
coal from the Moatize mining complex to the Indian Ocean port of
Beira came under gunfire.
Mozambique's deputy interior minister, Jose Mandra, said on
state radio that the attack was carried out by Renamo, a right-wing
opposition movement that battled the government during the
country's 1977-92 civil war. The group had operated as a political
party for years but began clashing with the Mozambican government
in 2013.
"Vale's operations on the line are temporarily suspended to
allow better progress in the investigations," the company said.
"Any additional information about the incident should be provided
by the Mozambican authorities."
The attack threatens to derail efforts by the East African
country to draw more foreign investment into its abundant natural
resources and move past the civil war. It also validates the
concern that several firms, including Vale, expressed last year
when Renamo resumed attacks on the government and said it would no
longer abide by the peace deal that ended the war.
In June, the former guerrilla group threatened to disrupt the
Sena rail line used by Vale and rival mining company Rio Tinto PLC
to transport coal out of Moatize. The warnings led the latter firm
to temporarily suspended its shipments and later evacuate the
families of its foreign employees from Mozambique.
Vale took no such action, however.
Portuguese-speaking Mozambique is the biggest destination for
Vale's investments after Brazil, receiving 22% of the company's
capital expenditures. The company plans to spend $2.07 billion
through 2015 digging a second coal pit at Moatize and aims to
finish its $4.44 billion logistics corridor to the Nacala port by
the end of this year.
Vale produced 3.82 million metric tons of coking and thermal
coal in 2013, up 1.3% from the previous year as logistical
constraints hampered shipments. The company ultimately aims to
produce 11 million tons of coal at Moatize.
Write to Paul Kiernan at paul.kiernan@wsj.com
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