Mine excursion
The northern pit at Khanye. The mine will have two pits,
namely the northern and the southern pit.
Richards Bay is substantial, considering
the 80 million tonnes of coal that is
moved there every year by all the mining
houses across South Africa. “With all
Canyon Coal’s other projects coming
online within the next two years, it is
our medium- to long-term objective
to get more space allotted to us,” says
Clifford Hallatt, mine development and
exploration manager at Canyon Coal.
Because of the inherent qualities
of coal in the Bronkhorstspruit area,
Khanye’s product will not be sold to
the typical markets. China is mining
a sizable percentage of their own coal
and is on a renewable drive. The result
has been a drop in demand from China
as the country commissions new coal
operations. The quality of coal exported
to India is of course exactly what South
African power utility Eskom’s power
stations require, with the result that
Eskom will increasingly have to compete
with countries like India and Pakistan in
terms of price.
Exposing the seams
When Mining Mirror visited the site
earlier this year, Canyon Coal’s mining
team had already exposed part of the top
seam, which is shallow at between 12m
and 15m below surface. At that stage, the
earthmoving team had already removed
between 250 000m³ and 300 000m³ of
topsoil to access the coal. In Witbank
geological terms, the Khanye top seam
would be named seam 3, which is
fragmented throughout the reserve. The
other two seams at Khanye is known
as the number 2 seam, consisting of a
2-upper and 2-lower seam, as well as the
number 1 seam. Some geologists refer to
it as the top, middle and bottom seams.
According to Mark Berger, managing
director at Isimilo, a subsidiary of
Canyon Coal and the company
responsible for the construction of
the processing plant, the company is
installing a smaller interim plant until
the main plant will be completed in
September. “The interim plant consists
of a crushing plant and a small washing
plant, which is a mini version of the main
plant. As the coal becomes available, it is
crushed, washed, and then a portion of
it is blended with the sellable product,”
explains Berger. The interim solution’s
washing plant is being refurbished
and will start washing coal from the
stockpiles early in May.
“In the interim, we will crush to minus
50mm, so the sellable product will be
everything below that. There are two
stages of crushing, but the top size is
50mm. The main plant, however, has
been designed to be more flexible, and
will produce large nuts, small nuts, peas,
duff, and everything in between,” says
Berger.
MAY 2018 MINING MIRROR
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