Coal Mining Company Sasol Replace Twisdraai Operation

Sasol Coal mining company has allocated R3,1-billion for the new export coal mine to replace the depleting Twisdraai operation. Sasol Mining's output in the six months to December 31 was up 6%, but its profit of R170-million was down 88%, owing to weak rand export prices.

Both Twistdraai and Brandspruit will be mined out shortly, and Thubelisha and Impumulelo are being established to replace them.

While the first phase of the just-approved R12,1-billion Secunda synfuels expansion will be based on the use of additional natural gas alone, Davies tells Mining Weekly Online that the possibility of growing Secunda on the use of additional coal in the future remains.

Sasol?s South African mining personnel are involved in the proposed new coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant developments in China and in India and are likely to become involved in Indonesia as well.

The JSE-listed empowered Waterberg coal-mining company Exxaro is Sasol?s preferred mining partner at its proposed coal-mining and synfuels Mafutha project in Limpopo province.

Besides Twistdraai, Sasol?s Brandspruit and Middelbult operations are also poised to be replaced, Impumulelo filling in where the depleting Brandspruit leaves off and a mine still to be named replacing Middelbult.

?We have to replace three mines in the next ten years and have good future growth potential at the proposed Mafutha CTL project. From a mining perspective, the outlook is extremely positive,? says Sasol Mining MD Hermann Wenhold.

Then, between 2015 and 2017, a replacement mine for Middelbult must be built, and this will also be done on a completely new greenfield reserve base, Wenhold tells Mining Weekly Online.

While these are not growth projects, the operational ramp-up of the new mines coincides with the operational ramping down of the old mines, over a period of years, which dovetails with Sasol Mining?s vision of being on a transformational journey that culminates in the doubling of the company?s business footprint by 2020.

There are plans to ?operationalise? Sasol Mining?s women-based black economic-empowerment partner, Ixia Coal, which has a 20% shareholding in Sasol Mining. The women?s group, Wipcoal, owns 51% of the shares of Ixia and Sasol Mining the remaining 49%.

Up to now, Sasol Mining?s mandate has been to be an efficient supplier of coal to Sasol?s synfuels factory in Secunda, an exporter of coal and a supplier of energy coal to Sasol?s Infrachem factory, in Sasolburg.

But now the company also has a mandate to grow, by taking part in the proposed Mafutha CTL project, in Limpopo province, seconding personnel to the Sasol group?s international CTLs in China and India, and by establishing a coal-mining operation that is led, owned, managed and operated by women.

The Thubelisha replacement mine will have a capacity to produce between 9,5-million tons and 10,5-million tons a year.

In the north-east of the Secunda complex, Thubelisha will supply both the export market and to Sasol Synfuels.

The first portion of the mine is due to come on stream in 2012 and will ramp up to full production over a three-year period.

A 17-km-long overland conveyor will transport coal to the beneficiation plant and the mine?s main components are three shafts that are in the process of being sunk, at a capital investment of R500-millon.

The materials handling component of the mine ? the overland conveyor, the bunkers and associated infrastructure ? requires an investment of R850-million and the rest of the investment being devoted to surface infrastructure, including power provision and roadworks.

The proposed Impumulelo replacement mine will be situated at the south-western portion of the Secunda complex and have a 28-km overland conveyor.

Impumulelo, at a depth of about 190 m, will have a capacity to produce 10-million tons a year of coal. The first production from the mine will be needed in 2014 and the entire mine will come into full operation over a four-year period.

The interesting aspect at Impumulelo is that two coal seams may be mined simultaneously, which lifts the capital investment to an anticipated R5-billion.

The first coal seam of about 3 m is roughly 190 m below the surface and 30 m below the first seam is the second seam.

Should the twin-seam option be taken, a vertical shaft would be sunk to the deepest seam and an incline shaft built under-ground to the lower seam. Coal will be transported through bunkers to the lower seam from where it will be conveyed through an incline to a surface bunker.

The two-seam mine, if approved, would present water- management challenges, for which a sound water-management strategy is being put in place.

Whether coal-bed methane (CBM) exploitation takes place for the Mafutha CTL is up to Sasol Mining?s associate group company, Sasol Petroleum International (SPI).

CBM is on the Sasol agenda and the Mafutha CTL team is interacting with SPI to consider the role that CBM could play in the sequestration of carbon dioxide.

Sasol Mining still has 15 years to go on its 20-year contract to buy 5,1-million tons a year of coal from Anglo Coal?s Isibonelo mine.

Sasol Mining?s only current highwall Syferfontein mine is the company?s lowest-cost and most productive mine, and the proposed mine at the Mafutha CTL project is expected to be an opencast.

The company?s Mooikraal coal mine at Sasolburg supplies coal for steam raising and power generation at the Infrachem site, with natural gas from Mozambique being used for the production of chemicals.