Mooiplaats
| Interest | *100%: Awaiting MPRTO registration of right and/or section 11 consent |
| Location | Ermelo Coal Field 1.7km to Camden Power Station |
| Area | 23,000Ha |
| Resource | 25 million (SAMREC indicated) 88 million (SAMREC measured) |
Overview
The Mooiplaats coal project in which CoAL has a 100% interest is situated in the Ermelo coal fields 1.7km from the recently re-commissioned Camden Power Station.
Development of the underground single seam thermal coal operation using the first continuous miner, resulting in the extraction of the first coal was on 20 October 2008. The second Continuous Miner was handed over on 24 November 2008.
Mooiplaats which involves capital expenditure of R1billion will take approximately 18 months to ramp up to its full production of 3Mtpa of ROM coal and 0.5Mtpa of middlings.
Successful negotiations were concluded with a local coal producer to obtain interim access to rail loading facilities at Umlabo siding whilst the Overvaal siding is being re-commissioned.
The colliery successfully railed its first load of ’lean’ coal on the 11th of September 2009 to Matola and will continue to transport product to the port to utilise the 80,000 tonne stockpile facility.
During the December 09 quarter 2,381 metres were mined resulting in the production of 26,000 tonnes of lean coal. Life of mine has been estimated at 20 years.
Infrastructure development has progressed according to plan. The coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP) was commissioned in May with capacity to process 110,000 tonnes of run-of-mine coal per month. The completion and commissioning of the second CHPP module was during the December 09 quarter. This enables the plant to process over 200,000 tonnes per hour of ROM coal. To date 47,000 tonnes of lean coal has been railed from Umlabo siding to the Matola Terminal in Maputo, Mozambique.
Future
Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) has allocated CoAL the current empty wagons returning from AcelorMittal’s Vanderbijlpark steel works ensuring that CoAL will be able to satisfy its Maputo port allocation. TFR will allocate further wagons to enable the total targeted export tonnage coal (3mtpa) to be handled through the Matola dry bulk terminal in Maputo when the terminal expansion is completed in August 2010. CoAL anticipates significantly reduced tarrifs through co-investment and the increased optimisation of the expanded port.
The latest consolidated resources statement indicates that Mooiplaats has 88.2 Mt measured and 25 Mt inferred resources with the potential of another +200 Mt from neighbouring unexplored properties.
The Environmental Management Plan for the extension of the New Order Mining Right ("NOMR") to include the farms Klipbank and Adrianople have been submitted to the Department of Mineral Resources ("DMR"), completing the documents required by the Department for approval of the extension, facilitating the regulatory approval for the development of the south decline.