Coal news and updates

Continental opens R351m underground coal mine


ASX- and Aim-listed Continental Coal officially opened the R351-million Penumbra underground coal mine, in Ermelo, Mpumalanga, on Tuesday.


The soon-to-be JSE-listed group, which delivered a guided tour of the operations to media, planned an output of 70 000 t/m of coal, at an average yield of 64.3%, over the next 11 years.

At the time of opening, Continental had ramped up to 50 000 t/m coal production, mining the C lower seam at an average depth of 85 m and average seam thickness of 1.8 m, COO Johan Heystek said.


The greenfield mine, funded with R101-million equity and R250-million debt from Absa Capital, would supply export and domestic markets, with State-owned power utility Eskom expected to be a major growth area, Continental CEO Don Turvey said at the site.

The new operation had already contributed 143 299 t of the 2.2-million tons of coal produced from all Continental's operations during the 2013 financial year.

Penumbra ramped up production as the Ferreira mine's export coal was depleted by November, ensuring continuity in the company's supply of export coal for another ten years.


This comes as Continental narrows focus to ensuring the De Wittekrans development, which received its mining right in September, delivered first coal in 2015, with a run-of-mine coal target of 3.5-million tons a year.

Source: www.miningweekly.com