PERTH (miningweekly.com) – South Africa-focused coal miner Universal Coal has started opencast mining at its New Clydesdale Colliery (NCC), in Mpumalanga, marking the second phase of its planned 3.3-million-tonne-a-year NCC operation.
Underground mining started in September last year, and is expected to achieve nameplate rates of 900 000 t/y of thermal coal by the end of the current quarter.
The opencast operation will deliver a further 2.4-million tonnes run-of-mine premium-quality domestic thermal coal and low phosphorus metallurgical coal from the adjacent Roodekop pit, once steady state production is achieved by the middle of this year.
The start of the opencast operation was brought about by the signing of a five-year, 650 000 t/y export contract with a global commodities trader, which Universal said provided additional security for the NCC debt facility.
“With both the Eskom and the long-term export offtake agreement now secured for NCC, the debt funding is now near complete, thereby having allowed for the commencement of the Roodekop opencast operation,” said Universal CEO Tony Weber.
“Additionally, the long-term export coal contract provides us with significant exposure to the improved thermal coal export market and further advances our revenue diversification strategy.”
Weber noted that Universal expected NCC to generate robust cash flows to complement contributions from the operating Kangala mine, positioning the miner well to fund future growth, while underpinning a dividend return going forward.
“We remain growth orientated with a focused and disciplined approach in advancing our excellent project pipeline for future organic growth,” he added.
Edited by: Creamer Media Reporter
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