Since starting initial coal briquette production last month, AltX-listed Mine Restoration Investments (MRI) says it plans to fully commission its coal briquetting project, in Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal, this month.

This follows several delays in commissioning the plant, owing to excessive rainfall, which created a hazardous on-site working environment and a mine area inaccessible to heavy vehicles.

The plant will produce coal briquettes by processing coal fines – traditionally an unwanted by-product in the coal mining industry – from the existing fines stockpiles and the monthly fines production of South African coal miner Keaton Energy’s Vaalkrantz colliery.
MRI states that about 10% of the run-of-mine (RoM) coal production at Vaalkrantz was made up of fines in the washing plant thickener underflow.

Surface and underground coal mining operations in South Africa have a combined yearly output of about 300-million tons, creating significant coal residues, such as dust and fines, which can typically constitute up to 20% of the total RoM feed.

“The initial trial [consign- ments] of briquettes were shipped to potential customers last month so that they could provide feedback on the final specifications of the briquettes produced,” says MRI CEO Jaco Schoeman.

MRI says that, while product specification is monitored regularly, it depends on the quality of the fines produced by the RoM feedstock.

Final product specification and the sale of the produced briquettes are subject to final customer confirmation, which will be based on bulk tests conducted over the next six weeks.

The Vaalkranz mine has right of first refusal to buy the coal briquettes, but, should the mine not exercise these rights, Schoeman says, alternative customers have been identified.

Construction of the plant, which started in March, is almost complete, with the final drying section of the plant being commissioned. Full commercial production of 5000 t/m is expected to start before the end of the year.

MRI, which was established to deal with acid mine drainage in South Africa, has developed proprietary technology for coal briquetting that converts anthracite fines into coal briquettes for sale back to the mines for export. This technology is currently used in its briquetting project.

Schoeman says that, while the company is focused on achieving full production from the Vryheid-based briquetting plant, it will investigate the possibility of increasing the plant capacity,” he concludes.