The enlarged facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2003 and will be expanded from 70 million metric tonnes to around 82Mt.
The conditions are largely to do with costs of railage from inland coal mines and financial guarantees for the project. Additional capacity is expected to boost South Africa's potential coal exports to US$2.4 billion a year, from around US$2.16 billion currently.
The terminal exported a record 66.9Mt of mainly steam coal in 2000, and was expected to export 68Mt this year.
Major shareholders in the terminal include Ingwe Coal, owned by BHP-Billiton and Anglo Coal.
