Modern Mining January 2020

COAL

Belfast – a high-tech pacesetter With South Africa’s mining industry having been in the doldrums for several years now, new mines of any note coming on stream have been few and far between. Nevertheless, 2019 saw two significant newcomers entering production – Vedanta’s Gamsberg zinc project and Exxaro’s Belfast coal mine. Both are notable for their high-tech features, particularly Belfast which Exxaro says is South Africa’s first mine to have a ‘digital twin’. Modern Mining recently visited the mine as part of a media group. scheduled and well within the R3,3 billion budget. What’s more, the project was delivered without a single injury to any worker, with 4,6 million LTI-free hours being worked from the start of construction in late 2017 through to first coal. Commenting at the time, Exxaro’s Executive Head of Projects, Johan Meyer, said: “The seamless team- work from the company’s value chain has resulted in the delivery of the first RB1 product from Exxaro’s new greenfield Belfast coal mine. The project and operations teams have managed to successfully accelerate and produce the first RB1 product ahead of schedule and well within budget and with no lost time due to injuries.”

A lthough the Belfast mine is Exxaro’s first ‘greenfield’ project since 2007 when the Inyanda mine was built, the company exe- cuted the project immaculately, announcing in September last year that the mine had produced its first high-grade thermal coal six months earlier than

An opencast operation, Belfast occupies a total mining right area of 7 198 ha and is located 55 km east of Middelburg and 10 km south-west of the town of Belfast on the southern side of the N4 highway. It exploits what Exxaro says is the last good qual- ity, A-grade, high-yield coal deposit in Mpumalanga. It will primarily produce A-grade, export quality coal (typically 6 000 kcal/kg) at a projected rate of 2,2 Mt/a and a secondary-quality product (typically 21,5 MJ/kg) for local use or export at a rate of approx- imately 0,5 Mt/a. The mine life is 17 years but there is potential for a second phase of development (which could include an underground operation), depending on mar- ket conditions, which could extend the life of mine to 30 years. The total resources are 83,2 Mt in the measured category, 23,24 Mt in the indicated, and 25,9 Mt in the inferred. The mine will make an enormous contribution to the local economy. Over 6 000 direct and indirect jobs were created during the construction phase, seeing almost 20 000 people benefitting, mostly from the local Nkangala District Municipality com- munity. An estimated 4 706 jobs will be created over the life of mine which (allowing for the multiplier

The first coal at the Belfast coal mine was produced six months ahead of schedule.

48  MODERN MINING  January 2020