JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The mining rights for TSX-listed coal-miner Homeland Energy’s 50%-owned Eloff project, in the Mpumalanga province, has been approved, potentially allowing the miner to become a major South African coal-miner.

The company announced in a statement on Monday that it had received notification from South Africa’s Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) that the mining rights for the project had been approved.

The potential 500 000 t/m run-of-mine project, which was co-owned by Homeland’s black economic-empowerment partner, would allow it to join the ranks of major South African coal miners, it stated.

“Receiving the mining right for Eloff is the second significant milestone for Homeland's management and technical teams in the past year, and we are extremely proud to have achieved it. With the award of the Eloff mining licence, we continue the momentum we began aggressively with the Kendal mining rights in March 2008,” Homeland Energy CEO Stephen Coates commented.

Exxaro Engineers of South Africa were in the process of completing a prefeasibility study at the project, following which a bankable feasibility study would be undertaken.

The company had reported in an April statement that it would progress the project to the production decision stage in the next six months.

Meanwhile, discussions with potential partners for the development of a mine-mouth power station at the project were continuing, Homeland reported.

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