CoAL wants to move from railway to road

Coal of Africa Limited (CoAL) last week announced the approval of their name change to MC Mining, which they hope will usher in a fresh period of cash flow generation and growth for the company.

This is just one of the major changes the company has made during November.

CoAL further strengthened its trade when the company announced its plans to rebrand and market CoAL to the wider investment community. In addition, the company also sold its Mooiplaats thermal coal colliery and acquired the Uitkomst metallurgical and thermal coal colliery from Pan African Resources, according to a recent announcement to shareholders, in a bid to restructure its balance sheet.

The Uitkomst Colliery has the required environmental and social permits in place and a remaining 17 years mining left. This, said the company, transformed them into a coal producer that is now well positioned to take advantage of higher global coal prices.

Last week the company also announced a directorate change. CoAL has appointed Brenda Berlin, the former group chief financial officer of Impala Platinum, to replace De Wet Schutte who resigned as finance director. Berlin will join the company on 1 March 2018 and it is the intention that she will join the board of directors during the course of 2018.

To top it all off, CoAL this week announced that the company intends to apply for an amendment to the environmental authorisation for its planned Makhado Lite Project, through a subsidiary company, Baobab Mining and Exploration Pty Limited. Baobab Mining will appoint Jacana Environmentals to comply with the revisions to the existing environmental authorisation.

According to CoAL’s amendment notification, the greatest impact will be on local roads.

The Makhado mine is a planned open-cast mine situated north of the Soutpansberg and 65km southwest of Musina. The mine was drastically downsized, reportedly largely as a result of CoAL’s decision to keep its Vele colliery on care and maintenance during 2017 and to “unlock near-term shareholder value.”

The reduction in the size of the project, and the associated reduced production [of coal], necessitated a change in the product transport option from rail to road. Coal from the mine will have to be transported to the Mactransco railway station over approximately 66.6km of local roads in and around the Musina area.  

This requires that an amendment be drafted for the original environment impact report, which will be done by 12 January 2018.

People who wish to lodge an objection or recommendations have until Friday, 15 December, to register on CoAL’s database for interested and affected parties. Dates for public hearings will be published afterwards.

News - Date: 09 December 2017

Isabel Venter

Isabel joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2009 as a reporter. She holds a BA Degree in Communication Sciences from the University of South Africa. Her beat is mainly crime and court reporting.

Email: [email protected]