Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe will on Wednesday officially hand over a 50% shareholding held by mining company Exxaro in the Arnot coal mine, in Middleburg, Mpumalanga, to former Arnot Coal employees.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Department of Mineral Resources highlighted the handover as an industry milestone towards the inclusion of workers as meaningful stakeholders, as enshrined in the Mining Charter which came into effect in 2018.
A Section 11 approval in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act was granted by the department last week and will result in 50% of the Arnot coal mine being owned by the former Exxaro employees.
The balance will be owned by Wescoal.
The former employees and mineworkers will reopen the mine and supply coal to power utility Eskom.
Mining Weekly Online earlier this year quoted Exxaro CEO Mxolisi Mgojo as saying that the transaction with Wescoal for the disposal of Arnot was “a landmark for the country, with former employees being empowered for the very first time, with 50% ownership participation”.