Strategy and management consulting firm Atalanta Consulting director Gill Whittington Banda, the project manager for the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism’s (DEDT’s) KwaZulu-Natal coal hub, will discuss the initial coal hub project phase and objectives at the Fossil Fuel Foundation’s (FFF’s) eighth KZN Energy Conference on March 27 and 28, in KwaZulu-Natal.

The coal hub forms part of the KwaZulu-Natal DEDT’s industrial development strategy, which aims to develop and implement strategies that drive economic growth and create an environment conducive to investment. This will be achieved through devolving the industrial strategy by establishing strategically located industrial sector hubs, such as textiles, coal and green economy hubs, in different regions of the province.

The initial three-year phase of the coal hub project, which focuses on junior miners and new entrants, as opposed to established players only, aims to link closely with the private sector to unlock economic opportunities across the entire value chain of coal in KwaZulu-Natal.

In parallel, the potential for further mining and beneficiation of other minerals in the province, in line with South Africa’s economic strategies and the National Development Plan, is also being assessed.

Whittington Banda explains that the coal hub is currently a virtual hub, or a collaboration platform, rather than a physical hub, which functions as a catalyst to bring together players in the KwaZulu-Natal coal sector.

The coal hub is a means through which to develop and implement strategies and it enables coal industry players to liaise with key partners in the industry, such as the Departments of Mineral Resources and Water Affairs.

“An analysis and feasibility study on establishing the coal hub was completed last year and the hub is currently in the implementation stage,” says Whittington Banda.

The initial phase of implementation will focus on four areas of intervention.

The first intervention entails undertaking a detailed study on abandoned coal dumps across KwaZulu-Natal to facilitate commercial exploitation and job creation by the private sector. Abandoned coal discards can be reprocessed to create commercial benefits, while the reduction in the number of coal dumps is also environmentally beneficial.

Another area of intervention includes developing a new comprehensive KwaZulu-Natal study on coal resources and reserves in the province to stimulate new investment and new entrants to the sector.

“KwaZulu-Natal coal is often considered as a small player in the national coal arena, but the province has anthracite coal deposits and the country’s main coking coal deposits, which is badly needed in the metallurgical industry. The province is also home to many important coal-fired industrial users.

“As a result of this, it is important that KwaZulu-Natal aims to maximise its economic opportunities through coal supply from these deposits,” explains Whittington Banda.

The third intervention measure, working with partners from the private sector, will be for the coal hub to create a collaboration platform to assist new entrants and junior miners in entering the entire value chain of KwaZulu-Natal’s coal sector, including mining, logistics, beneficiation and rehabilitation. This initiative could include mentoring and access to information, funding, trading and training. It will also work to partner new entrants with established players in the coal arena.

The fourth measure is that the coal hub will focus on creating strategic partnerships between juniors, new entrants and existing government and industrial initiatives that use coal, in particular involving circulating fluidised bed (CFB) coal-fired electricity generation in KwaZulu-Natal.

Whittington Banda hopes to achieve much within the initial three years of the project. The discards study will be completed and the discards programme will be launched this year, as well as the coal resources and reserves study. Work has also commenced to identify partners for the collaboration platform, she says.

“With regard to coal-fired electricity, there is inevitably a much longer lead time involved in this aspect of the coal hub, owing to the scale and complexity of such capital projects,” she adds.

The purpose of the FFF’s eighth energy conference is to bring together all those involved in the production or use of coal, carbon, anthracite and alternatively-sourced energy commodities, such as gas, biomass, municipal waste and discards, in KwaZulu-Natal, to provide a forum for the presentation of ideas and a discussion on all issues related to the development of those industries in the province.