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The coal-processing plant at the Vele Colliery. 

CoAL closing in on local coal fields

 

Mining company Coal of Africa Limited (CoAL) is tightening its grip on the coal fields of the Soutpansberg.

The company announced on Monday that they had received the environmental go-ahead for their Vele Colliery. According to CoAL, the environmental authorisation that they received, in terms of the National Environmental Management Act and the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, will enable them to implement “stream diversion[s] and associated infrastructural activities” at Vele.

The company will only be able to continue with these “stream diversion[s]” after the Department of Water and Sanitation has given its approval in the form of an integrated water use licence (IWUL) from the Department of Water and Sanitation, which is the final regulatory approval required. The stream diversion is crucial for plant modifications that need to take place at the Vele colliery.

CoAL CEO David Brown welcomed the decision and said that once the water use licence was approved, it would look at a final decision for the plant-modification project, which will include an assessment of forecast global coal prices.

The Vele Colliery is situated in the Tuli coalfield 48 km west of Musina. This open-cast mine started production of thermal coal during January 2012 in the eastern pit. According to CoAL’s website, a combination of “typical ramp up challenges, the global economic downturn, and the plant’s ability to produce only thermal coal” made Vele fall short of the projected five million tons of product initially estimated.

In 2013, CoAL went back to the board of directors to implement a repositioning strategy which required testing and an urgent review of the coal being excavated at Vele. This has led to the current modifications required at Vele. “The modification will address the historical operational inefficiencies and will improve the operational and financial performance of the mine,” said CoAL.

The website further indicates that the plant modifications, or rather the expansion, is planned to process the discard from the semi-soft coal product through a second-stage wash process to produce either an export-grade thermal coal or Eskom middlings.

 

Graphic illustrating CoAL Vele Colliery location. Graphic: www.coalofafrica.com.

 

Date:04 February 2017

By: Isabel Venter

Isabel joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2009 as a reporter. She holds a BA Degree in Communication Sciences from the University of South Africa. Her beat is mainly crime and court reporting.

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