Company Announcement - The third Waterberg conference hosted by the Fossil Fuel Foundation in collaboration with Exxaro takes place on Wednesday 15th October at the Mogul Club in Lephalale with field trips to Exxaro’s coal processing plant for Medupi at its Grootegeluk mine and Eskom’s Medupi power station the following day. Grootegeluk has the world’s largest beneficiation complex where 8000 tonnes per hour of run-of-mine coal is upgraded in six different plants. With the world population predicted to be around 11 billion by 2100 compared to today’s 7 billion figure, the need for energy will increase, including here in South Africa. Although activism against fossil fuels and pessimistic financial analyses on the future of coal appear to be increasing, indications are that renewable energy (especially solar and wind) is unlikely to develop quickly enough to fill any energy gap left by a reduction in fossil fuel use. Driven by economic growth and an increasing population in the SADC region, the Waterberg coal field is expected to meet both the national and regional energy requirements. Coal was discovered in the north western part of the Limpopo province in March 1920 during water drilling operations on the farm Grootegeluk, 25km west of the present town of Lephalale. This coalfield later became known as the Waterberg Coalfield.

The importance of this area to the South African economy is significant. Exxaro has the largest resource and reserve base in South Africa with 87% of this resource based in the Waterberg. The area stretches 40km from north to south and 88 km east to west extending into Botswana and contains 50% of the country’s remaining coal reserves with thick, near surface coal seams. However Grootegeluk mine situated on the shallow open-cast part of the coalfield, owned by Exxaro, is the only operating mine in this coalfield. Aptly titled ‘New, Clean and Innovative Technologies that will Shape the Future of Coal Production in this Region’, the conference will examine progress, possibilities and future plans for the area. Exxaro has recently revealed plans to spend R16bn in growth capital in the next five years with an additional R1bn per year sustaining capital from 2021. Exxaro will include the neighbouring Thabametsi mine as part of its expansion footprint increasing its supply of coal from the Waterberg in the Limpopo province to 35 million tonnes/year (mtpa). 

Transnet  has joined forces and is making progress in increasing coal dedicated rail volumes from the current 2mtpa to 27mtpa at a cost of R5bn. (Miningmx) The successful rehabilitation of the Grootegeluk mining pit void is not without considerable challenges. Large amounts of plant discard material are required to fill the void to the level of the natural ground for rehabilitation and land re-use purposes. ‘Grootegeluk plant discard material is susceptible to spontaneous combustion and specific methods of backfilling the material into the mining void are required to reduce this risk. The stacking method we follow was developed at Grootegeluk mine in 2000 to prevent spontaneous combustion’, says  Hennie Fourie, Exxaro’s  Principal Mechanical Engineer and one of the presenters at the conference.  Circulating fluidised bed combustion, water and energy efficiency in coal mining, fossil fuels and their use in the future are some of the topics to be examined at this challenging conference.