Mining has long been integral to the development and advancement of South Africa’s economy and has contributed largely in making its economy the strongest on the continent.

Ownership, access and opportunity in regards to the country’s mineral resources are regulated by the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act of 2002, which recognises the state’s custodianship over the country’s mineral resources. South Africa’s mining industry is the country’s largest employer, with around 460,000 employees and a further 400,000 employed by the suppliers of goods and services to the industry.

As the country’s second largest earner in terms of the value of total sales after gold, coal provides 6.1% of the country’s total merchandise exports. South Africa is the sixth largest holder of coal in the world with 31 billion tonnes of recoverable coal reserves, equivalent to 11 % of the world’s total coal reserves. Although most of the coal is consumed by the South African energy sector, with 77 % of the country’s primary energy needs provided by coal, circa 69 million tonnes of coal per annum are exported via Richard’s Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT). Historically the majority of this was exported to Europe, but Asia (India and China) has in recent years become the preferred market. The RBCT was upgraded in 2010 with a resultant increase of the export capacity to 91Mt/a.

Coal production in South Africa is concentrated in large mines, with 8 mines accounting for 61 % of the output. About 46.5 % of the country’s coal mining is underground and 53.5 % is produced from open-cast mining methods (SA Yearbook 2007 / 08). Bituminous or steam coal is South Africa’s main export coal, with anthracite having to be imported, due to dwindling reserves.

Similarly to the gold industry, the South African coal sector has undergone a number or mergers and acquisitions and name changes over the last few years. What has emerged is three major coal producers: BHP Billiton Energy Coal South Africa; Anglo American Coal and Xstrata. The fourth largest is Exxaro Resources Limited, South Africa’s largest black-controlled diversified mining company, whose entrance into the market was pre-empted by a merger of the Eyesizwe and Kumba’s coal base and industrial minerals divisions. Sasol, Total and Optimum are also major producers.

Source:  http://www.universalcoal.com/projects/coal-mining-in-south-africa/

The combustion of coal in coal-fired power plants produces several materials, including: fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag, and flue gas desulfurization material.  Together, these materials represent what is generally referred to as coal ash, or sometimes as coal combustion byproducts (CCBs). 

Each material has unique characteristics that makes it  valuable for certain beneficial uses, including as a fill material for mine reclamation and subsidence control; for achieving mine reclamation requirements under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA); for the elimination of dangerous highwalls; for producing concrete and Portland cement; as a low permeability capping material; to produce road base materials, structural fills and embankments; to make wallboard; as an additive to improve soil chemistry and reduce acidity; and to neutralize acid mine drainage.

[source:  http://www.nma.org]

Worldwide, we are faced with the basic need for energy, but in the poorer countries, this basic need is critical.  There are roughly 1.6 billion people in developing countries – 700 million of whom are in Africa.  Many of these people lack access to electricity.  Due to the fact that coal is often cheap and plentiful, and the need for electricity is so great, it goes without saying that coal plants shall continue to be built.

Since coal will continue be used, many countries are in the process of looking into operating cleaner coal plants. New technologies (e.g. carbon capture and storage) are still in the early stages of research and development.  It is crucial that developing countries have access to these new technologies when available, since that will allow the elimination of GHGs during energy production from coal.

Clean coal : A term used for coal that does not release it’s carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.

Coal was made from the deposited layers of forests and organic matter that have held the carbon under the earth over millions of years. Burning it releases all that carbon dioxide which is a major greenhouse gas. So burning coal and other fossil fuels contributes to global warming.

Coal is still fairly plentiful and is also still reasonably easy to dig up and burn. Today, scientists are working to discover ways to capture the carbon dioxide as the coal is burned and then to safely store it.

Advantages: If it works:

• we can continue to use coal to produce electricity for hundreds of years.
• we won’t have to spend so much money on new renewable technologies like solar, wind and water power.
• the coal miners can keep their jobs.