Coal of Africa sells Mooiplaats
The sale of Mooiplaats Colliery is the final step in Coal of Africa’s balance sheet restructuring strategy, setting the course for the company to become a self-sufficient midtier coal mining company, Coal of Africa CEO David Brown said last week.
Mooiplaats, which has been on care and maintenance since 2013, is being sold to a consortium of investors for an aggregate purchase price of R179.9-million.
The disposal of the thermal colliery, located in the Ermelo coalfields, next to Eskom’s Camden power station, is expected to yield operational cost savings of $1.4-million a year for Coal of Africa.
The consortium taking over the mine is made up of young black professionals, future Mooiplaats Colliery employees, communities, To The Point Growth Specialists and experienced coal mining executives, including Don Turvey, the former CEO of Continental Coal.
The structure of the consortium, funded by the newly established Last Mile Fund created by African Rainbow Capital, Bernard Swanepoel, Sipho Nkosi and Clinton Halsey, complies with Mining Charter III, South Africa’s currently suspended third mining charter.
The aggregate proceeds will be used to settle Mooiplaats’ black economic-empowerment partner, Ferret Mining, and to provide funding for further development of the Makhado coking coal and thermal coal project, while also having the potential to fund the acquisition by Coal of Africa of a cash gene- rating asset.
The transaction releases in-house human resources that are now free to work on Coal of Africa’s Makhado, Brown said in a release to Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly.
The underground Mooiplaats operation, which was developed from an abandoned boxcut, produced its first coal in 2009, with mining being undertaken by a contract miner until June 2011, when Coal of Africa opted for in-house mining, using the existing workforce and equipment.
Settlement is by way of an initial purchase price of R67-million, which will be held in escrow by the company’s legal advisers for payment to the respective sellers in agreed portions and on agreed dates.
In the initial cash settlement, R15-million will be paid to Ferret for its 26% interest in Mooiplaats and R52-million to the Coal of Africa group for the balance of equity shareholding in Mooiplaats, as well as claims against Mooiplaats and Langcarel.
The R112.9-million balance will be settled in ten equal quarterly instalments with the purchaser ultimately becoming responsible for operations.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
At SMS group, we have made it our mission to create a carbon-neutral and sustainable metals industry.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Goodwin Submersible Pumps Africa is sole distributors for Goodwin electrically driven, submersible, abrasion resistance slurry pumps.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
