Mine excursion
Wescoal’s Elandspruit
Colliery is the mainstay in its
growing list of assets, writes
Leon Louw.
T
he acquisition of Keaton Energy’s
Vanggatfontein mine and the
Moabsvelden license late last year,
placed Wescoal on a new growth path in
which it doubled production and revenue.
“The company’s immediate focus will be on
optimising its current assets, while exploring
external growth opportunities,” says Izak
van der Walt, chief financial officer at
Wescoal. Wescoal’s two largest producing
mines are Elandspruit in Middelburg, and
Vanggatfontein, close to Delmas, both in
Mpumalanga. The company’s two other
operations, Khanyisa and Intibane, are nearing
the end of their mine life. Elandspruit is
expected to produce coal for the next eight
years, while Vanggatfontein is set to continue
churning out coal for the next 12 years, with
possible expansions, especially onto the
adjacent Moabsvelden license area.
The acquisition has changed the traditional
Wescoal market, as it allows the company
to further strengthen its Eskom business
and relationship. It also expands Wescoal’s
potential product offering.
Keaton Energy found Vanggatfontein tricky
to mine and encountered many geological
challenges, for which the area is notorious.
The mine still produces about 350 000 tonnes
per month (tpm) run of mine (ROM), but the
Wescoal team will have their work cut out for
them at Vanggatfontein.
However, Thivha Tshithavhane, CEO at
Wescoal Mining, says the team is happy with
what they inherited at Vanggatfontein. “We
had to make a few changes, though. The yield
is lower than Wescoal standards and therefore
our main goal at the mine is to introduce
a programme to optimise the yield,” says
Tshithavhane. “Operationally, there is not much
of a difference between Vanggatfontein and
Elandspruit. The main differences are in the
scheduling and timing and at Vanggatfontein
more coal faces are accessible, which increases
operational flexibility.” he adds.
Smooth operations at Elandspruit
At Elandspruit, Wescoal mines all five coal seams, which allows the
mine to run a continuous stream of products through its plant.
At the company’s prime operation,
Elandspruit, which at 260 000tpm of ROM
produces less coal per month, operations are
JUNE 2018 MINING MIRROR
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