Coaltech, a non-profit organisation focused on coal industry research, recently introduced its revised strategy and rebranded business, complete with new logo, at an event held in Johannesburg in mid-August, CEO Avhurengwi Nengovhela, tells Modern Mining.
Established in 1999 to address the research needs of the country’s coal industry, the organisation’s main purpose is the application of research findings and development of technology to ensure the industry remains competitive, sustainable, and safe.
While the mandate remains unchanged, Coaltech’s mission is “slightly different” with a focus on aiding the coal industry become more sustainable within a low carbon emissions context.
Nengovhela, who took the helm at Coaltech in May this year, credits chairman, Philip Mulder, for his leadership role and the board for its support in the organisation’s shift in focus.
“The symbolism of changing our brand also incorporates our fourth area of emphasis - future technologies, which complements our existing areas of mining, processing and the environment.”
Nengovhela explains that the authorities and the coal mining sector’s concern that “we may run out of coal reserves in the future”, saw a few founding members including the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the then Chamber of Mines (Now Minerals Council South Africa) establish Coaltech in 1999 as the research and development arm tasked with creating technologies to meet industry needs.
According to the Minerals Council South Africa, at current rates of production, South Africa has reserves sufficient to satisfy its needs for more than a century. However, the locus of production is gradually shifting away from the traditional Witbank or Emalahleni coal field as collieries approach the end of their productive lives. Emphasis is being placed on exploring and developing the Waterberg coal field as well as others in Limpopo province.
“Since the establishment of Coaltech, a lot has changed in the world. While the concern remains that we may still run out of coal reserves; the global energy landscape has changed dramatically, underpinned by the need to diversify away from coal towards renewable energy sources. This brings with it added pressures for the coal industry in its current form. Today, more than ever, there is need for research, development and innovation that focuses on slightly different things than 25 years ago.”
Coaltech is hopeful that entities concerned with the Just Energy Transition (JET), clean coal technologies and climate change, will be receptive to aid in funding its fourth area of focus – future technologies.
“We are fortunate that our funders continue to support us, however, we are eager to expand our funding reach to entities that are not necessarily coal mining companies, but those also concerned with climate change effects and the perseveration of livelihoods within coal mining regions..”
Nengovhela says that while the research to date has served industry well, there is an imperative to engage in more research and development work related to clean coal technologies and alternative uses of coal.
“Through the application of research, our role now is to create new markets and establish whether coal has purposes other than its traditional role as a source of energy that is generated through power stations. Further to this, there are several conversations around the impact of the Just Energy Transition (JET) on the communities which are currently dependant on coal mining, in particular, Emalahleni, in the Mpumalanga Province. We believe that as Coaltech we have a role to play in repositioning our objectives to serve the communities that will be impacted by the JET.”
Finding solutions for coal emissions
According to Nengovhela, the challenge for the coal mining sector, is not the mining of coal per se, but the emissions that emanate from the burning of coal which has led to the industry being on the receiving end of a negative narrative.
Nengovhela references Thungela Resources CEO, July Ndlovu’s keynote address at the Coal and Energy Transition Day, which highlighted the concern around the sustainability of the coal mining sector.
“Ndlovu noted that if industry were to find ways to capture emissions resulting from the burning of coal, the pressure on the coal mining sector would be significantly diminished.”
The current dilemma underscores the key role that an organisation such as Coaltech plays in research and the subsequent development of innovative technologies to address such concerns.
Nengovhela explains that one of the main focus areas is for research to establish how to capture emissions, how to store it and how to use it in a variety of applications.
“At the moment, that is Coaltech’s top priority. If we are able to achieve this feat, we will be able to prolong the life of the local coal mining industry beyond 2040. Secondly, we need research to investigate the potential of establishing new markets for coal. As it is, coal is used predominantly as a source of energy to fuel power stations, but by being able to convert coal into other forms of energy, such as South Africa’s coal-to-liquids innovation, the sector may experience growth in new areas . And should the research unlock new opportunities, industry will no longer need to sell coal only to local power producer, Eskom, or the export market. Furthermore, the new avenues could ensure the viability of coal mining in the longer term.”
Aligning with the revised strategy
On 09th of August Coaltech invited researchers at several local universities and consulting companies to put forth research proposals on potential future technologies.
Over the month, the entity expects to finalize new coal related research proposals from a myriad of institutions associated with clean coal technologies, alternative uses of coal, water stewardship and the circular economy. This is in addition to the long-standing mining and coal processing research areas.
“Aside from the several projects related to water stewardship, our focus is also on investing in the management of mine affected water and reprocessing coal dumps. We believe that there are opportunities within our dumps to potentially extract some critical minerals making this an exciting area of research and development”.
Interestingly, Coaltech is hoping to replicate the success achieved by the gold mining industry which has been reaping rewards from reprocessing gold dumps. Doing this successfully would have immeasurable environmental and socio-economic benefits.
Where the gold mining sector has already quantified its gold dumps and mapped out their locations, the coal industry is yet to undertake research to identify and quantify coal dumps across the country with a particular focus on the quality of the dumps.
“The renewable energy movement requires critical minerals, which include rare earth elements. It has been shown in China, the US and other coal mining regions that coal dumps host rare earths element (REE). If we are able to establish the quantity and quality of our coal dumps, successfully reclaim them and extract the REEs, we would be in a position to simultaneously support the JET and achieve a low carbon emissions future.”
While Nengovhela is quick to affirm the existence of REE in the coal dumps, their economic viability remains in question, he says.
“We know that REEs are found in coal dumps but whether we have these in quantities that make it economically viable to reprocess, is the question. The research that is yet to be undertaken will reveal whether our existing coal dumps offer a viable business case to pursue.”
“It is important to note that there are over 40 critical minerals and establishing which ones appear in coal dumps is an immediate imperative. If our research proves the coal dumps are viable for reprocessing, we get to clean up our environmental footprint and unlock economic benefits associated with extracting critical minerals. The initiative will also lend itself to job creation and potentially replace those lost from the JET move.”
Coaltech eyes SADC partnerships
The South African entity has its eye firmly set on expanding its focus beyond local coal operators to engaging coal miners across the SADC region. Believing that it offers a value proposition useful to all coal miners across the continent, Coaltech is in fact, actively pursuing coal mining companies in Mozambique and Botswana.
“We believe strongly that we have an important role to play in the work that Future Coal is undertaking, given that the research done over the past 25 years is valuable to Future Coal’s cause and the United Nations work on the JET. It is therefore important for us to widen our reach and partner with other coal operators.”
Nengovhela, who cut his teeth in the mining industry, working on mine closure at South32, explains that since joining Coaltech, the Association has focussed on raising its profile to ensure that all its potential members are familiar with the work it does. “Coaltech is a great organisation with an important history of making a tangible impact on the industry so it is important that people know what we are doing.”
Further to this, Coaltech has introduced the concept of a ‘Masterclass’ where it invites selected researchers in the coal industry ‘and beyond’ to share relevant research they are undertaking with our members.
“This gives members insight into some of the latest developments underway in our sector,” he concludes. It is important for Coaltech to provide this platform so that the conversation around the potential of coal is well understood.more sustainable within a low carbon emissions context.
