20
MODERN MINING
February 2014
COAL
D
escribed by Universal as a “de-
risked domestic thermal coal op-
eration”, Kangala will supply the
bulk of its product – 2 Mt/a – to
Eskom in terms of a coal sales
agreement executed in March last year with a
further 100 kt/a of approximately 6 000 kcal
coal being produced for the export thermal
market, which will be partially catered for via
Universal’s 51 000 t/a RBCT Quattro allocation.
Contractually, Universal was obliged to deliver
its first coal to the power utility in April this
KANGALA
hits the ground
year but in fact the first deliveries will be tak-
ing place two months early, following the start
of hot commissioning of the BC1/BC2 crushing
and screening circuit on 23 January this year.
When
ModernMining
was on site recently, the
350 t/h crushing and screening circuit – fabri-
cated off-site in Middelburg – was working well
(there have been only minor ‘teething’ prob-
lems with it), while work was well advanced
on the second stage of the plant, a 200 t/h DMS
unit which should have been installed on site
by the time this article is published. The con-
tractor responsible for the design, procurement
and construction of the plant is MRD (Mineral
Resource Development), which is also respon-
sible for plant operation. The plant features a
compact footprint and has been designed to
allow a doubling-up of capacity.
Mining operations were proceeding satisfac-
torily with the mining contractor, Stefanutti
Stocks Mining Services, having started the first
boxcut in July last year and producing the first
ROM coal in October last year. The company has
deployed an all-Komatsu mining fleet consist-
ing of 60-ton RHD465 rigid dump trucks, 40-ton
HM400-3 ADTs, PC850 and PC870 excavators,
D275 track dozers and a WD500 wheel dozer.
Stefanutti Stocks will be moving 450 000 m
3
of
Universal Coal plc, listed on the ASX but with a manage-
ment team that is wholly South African, has commissioned
its first mine, Kangala. Located 65 km east of Johannesburg
in the Delmas area on the western edge of the Witbank
coalfield, Kangala has already produced its first coal and
will ramp up over the next several months to a run-of-
mine production rate of 2,4 Mt/a, which will translate
into 2,1 Mt/a of saleable coal. The mine, costing a modest
A$49 million to develop, has been brought into production
in just nine months although final completion will not be
achieved until April this year.
