Springlake Colliery

Springlake Colliery is the largest producer of anthracite in South Africa, with an established track record and extensive proven reserves. The colliery is situated within the Klipriver Coalfield near Dundee in the KwaZulu-Natal Province, approximately 360km south-east of Johannesburg.

Geology and mining

Springlake's anthracite is derived from two coal seams which are between <0.1m to 1.5m apart. The width of the bottom seam is between 1.3m and 2.2m, and the width of the top seam is between 0.8m and 1.4m. Springlake employs a conventional board and pillar layout in its underground mine and conventional drill and blast procedures in both its underground and opencast mines.

Production and reserves

Springlake Colliery has a 30-year operating history and produced 1.04Mt in the year to June 2007, a significant improvement on the performance of FY2006. With continued improvements planned in FY2008, run-of-mine production is expected to increase further. The recently granted new order mining right for the adjacent Besterdale farm adds 500,000 saleable tonnes to the opencast operation. Based on the Competent Person’s Report, Pemin believes that a further 10 years of mineable underground anthracite reserves at Springlake may exist over and above the current life of mine (LOM) plan of 11 years.

Product

Springlake Colliery has produced a range of anthracite products from its underground and opencast mines for the domestic and international energy and metallurgical markets for over 20 years. Springlake supplies anthracite as a reductant to ferromanganese producers such as Assmang Limited in the domestic metallurgical market. The colliery supplies Quantum Screening and Crushing (Pty) Ltd with anthracite for its calcining plant at Ballengeich, which increases the carbon content of the colliery's unsized anthracite material for use in the domestic sinter market. Springlake accounts for about 47% of South Africa's anthracite exports. Brazil is the main destination for unsized products, and Europe (mainly Belgium and Spain) for sized products. Ireland's domestic heating sector is an important customer and the mine supplies sized products to the growing Indian market. Springlake currently has an export allocation of 235,000 tonnes per year from the Richards Bay Coal Terminal.

Petmin is investing in research and development with a view to increasing its understanding of the reductant qualities of Springlake's products and their possible development for use as coke substitutes or for calcining or briquetting.

Infrastructure

Coal from the colliery's 300tph coal washing plant is transported 26km by road to the Group's Ballengeich railway siding for stockpiling, loading and onward transportation by rail to Richards Bay and Durban for export customers or inland for domestic usage. Unsized coal is transported to Quantum Screening and Crushing (Pty) Ltd's calcining plant which is situated on the Ballengeich site. Electricity is provided by Eskom through overhead powerlines. Water is supplied by the Uthukela Regional Board, most of which is used at the washing plant. At Ballengeich, Springlake has an ISO 17025-accredited, SABS-operated laboratory for routine plant, control and dispatch sampling, as well as research into optimal anthracite blends for the metallurgical smelters.