Tete, Mozambique

🇲🇿 Tete is the capital city of Tete Province in Mozambique. It is located on the Zambezi River, and is the site of two of the four bridges crossing the river in Mozambique. A Swahili trade centre before the Portuguese colonial era, Tete continues to dominate the west-central part of the country and region, and is the largest city on the Zambezi. In the local language, Nyungwe, Tete means "reed".

History The region was an important Swahili trade centre before the Portuguese colonial era. On the east coast of Africa the Portuguese were drawn to Mozambique and the Zambezi river by news of a local ruler, the Munhumutapa, who was said to have had fabulous wealth in gold. In their efforts to reach the Munhumutapa, the Portuguese established in 1531 two settlements far up the Zambezi – one of them, at Tete, some 420 km (260 mi) from the sea. The Munhumutapa Kingdom and gold mines remained autonomous and mostly isolated from the Portuguese. But in this region of east Africa – as in Portuguese Guinea and Angola in the west – Portuguese involvement became sufficiently strong to survive into the third quarter of the 20th century. Under Portuguese influence Tete had become a market centre for ivory and gold by the mid-17th century. Given a Portuguese town charter in 1761, it became a city of the Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique in 1959. After the Portuguese Colonial War in Portuguese Africa and the April 1974 military coup in Lisbon, the then Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique become an independent state. The newly independent People's Republic of Mozambique, created in 1975 after the exodus of Mozambique's ethnic Portuguese, descended into civil war between 1977 and 1992.

Transport Chingozi Airport (IATA: TET, ICAO: FQTT) on the north-eastern side of the city has a 2.4 km paved runway. The one-kilometre-long Samora Machel Bridge, finished in 1973 by the Portuguese and designed by Edgar Cardoso, is a vital link on the major highway linking not just the northern and southern parts of the country, but Zimbabwe and Malawi as well. A second bridge south of the city was opened in late 2014 to allow traffic to Zambia or Malawi to bypass the provincial capital. Tete's bridges, the rail Dona Ana Bridge, and the Armando Emilio Guebuza Bridge at Caia are the only bridges across the lower Zambezi.

Districts Tete Province's districts include: • Angónia District • Cahora-Bassa District • Changara District • Chifunde District • Chiuta District • Tete, the capital city of the province • Doa District • Macanga District • Magoé District • Marávia District • Marara District • Moatize District • Mutarara District • Tsangano District • Zumbo District.

Tete Fossil Forest A fossil site of global significance covers almost 1500 square km of the region. Well-preserved fossil wood from the Late Permian provides an insight into the flora of the area just prior to the end-Permian mass extinction. Many species are recorded, notably of conifers, all within the Matinde Formation which comprises sandstones, siltstones and coal beds. Marking its importance, the International Union of Geological Sciences has included the site within its 'First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites' list, published in October 2022. The forest is located in the district of Magoé, between Cahora Bassa and Magoé and approximately 250 km west of the city of Tete.

Coal In 1859 Richard Thornton completed the first studies of coal occurrence in the Tete Province as part of an exhibition under Dr. David Livingstone. In his report from the trip, Mr. Thornton stated that the coal, which was dug by natives from an outcropping seam on the bank of the River Muntizi, showed no tendency to cake; was free-burning; contained very little sulphur or iron although a large proportion of ash along with a small amount of gaseous matter

Coal reserves The Tete Province is reported to host coal reserves of approximately 6.7 billion tons, of which 3 billion tons represent sub-economic or economic grades. Now, the province is regarded geologically as the largest undiscovered coal province in the world and it is estimated that the Province could be producing 25% of the world's coking coal by 2025.

Moatize coal deposit The largest coal reserve presently discovered in the Tete Province is the Moatize metallurgical and thermal coal deposit which contains 2.4 billion tons of coal and is located with the Moatize sub-basin. Vale SA bid US$122.8 million for exploration and development rights of the project in 2008. Today, the project is a working mine which has now doubled its original output and is producing 22 million metric tons of coal per year

Local coal geology

Most coal resources are located within the remnants of the Ecca Rock Group, member of the Karoo Supergroup, and are hosted within the Zambezi graben. The coal seams were formed during the early and late Permian and deposits are associated with non-marine terrestrial clastic sedimentary sequences of the Karoo Supergroup. Depositional environments were primarily fluvial and deltaic but also included some minor lacustrine and shoreline settings.

Coal licenses In Mozambique, 95% of coal licenses issued have been granted to forty different companies operating within the Tete Province. On 29 September 2011 the Mozambican government suspended the issuing of new coal licenses in the Tete Province in order to assess to what extent companies currently hold licenses in the Province and whether they are complying with contracts signed by the government.

Investment in coal development A large amount of investment has been made portending to the development of coal resources and infrastructure required for mining and development. The International Finance Corporation, member of the World Bank Group has announced that it will invest up to US$5 million in Baobab Resources Plc's exploration projects with the intention of fostering economic development.

Queue to cross the Tete Suspension Bridge, Mozambique

In 2011 Vale approved a US$6 billion expansion of its Moatize coal project in order to increase output from 11 million tons per year mined initially to 22 million tons per year.

The Mozambican government have undertaken a US$375 million refurbishment of the 600 km rail link between Moatize and Beira which was severely damaged during the Mozambican Civil War. Furthermore, a deep-water international port facility is being constructed in Beira. In addition to this port at Beira, a coal terminal at Chinde, north of Beira is being planned by coal producers that will have a 20 million tonne terminal and whose opening will coincide with the beginning of production at the Zambeze Project, owned by Rio Tinto, in 2015. The link between Beira Port and the Tete Province is being referred to as the 'Beira Corridor', along which there are now plans to upgrade all major rail freight routes so that they have the capacity to transport coal resources.

Community impacts Local communities have been relocated from their land in order for the development of coal resources to commence. Vale relocated 5,000 people into new 'settlements' in order to develop its projects. The 'settlements' offered new housing and infrastructure however, people must pay for any energy which they consume.

Rio Tinto have established the 'Riversdale Training Centre', Tete, where currently 28,300 candidates are registered and 1,172 people have been trained in various civil trades and building. At the Moatize Coal Mine, 90% of Vale's employees and contractors are Mozambicans.