Multidisciplinary professional services firm Arup has been appointed by diversified resources company Exxaro to complete the design, tender and construction monitoring of the infrastructure and site development of a new greenfield opencast coal mine, near Belfast, in Mpumalanga.

Mining Weekly reported last month that the mine, which is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2017, was expected to produce 2.2-million tons of high-quality export coal and 500 000 t of coal for local power stations over a 16-year period, after commissioning in the second half of 2017.

Exxaro says the development of the entire mine will cost R3.8-billion, with the project being one of the last high-quality coal reserves in Mpumalanga.

Arup notes that the multidisciplinary project for which it has been appointed will entail establishing water management, pollution control dams, on- and off-site road networks, and sewer reticulation, including a sewer treatment plant and potable-water storage, as well as structurally designing of the workshops and relevant structural items.

Further, Arup will be responsible for constructing all the buildings on site, including offices, ablution facilities and the electrical reticulation of the entire site. The company will also be responsible for the building of provincial roads – which have to meet provincial standards – around the mine site.

“As our involvement in the project pertains to infrastructure, we plan to develop it around the model of sustainability and also through [the use of] renewable energy, where possible, which we believe will benefit the mine in the long run,” says Arup associate director Willem van Rijn.

“Sustainability is high on Arup’s agenda and we have to look after the environment as much as we can. Sustainability also yields long-term cost savings, which is something that will prove beneficial for the mine in the future,” Van Rijn says.

Also, he points out that the renewable-energy market is growing at a rapid rate globally and in South Africa. As a result, Arup has identified areas where off-grid solar panels can be combined with grid power supply on the mine to reduce energy costs.

Arup highlights that its sustainability and renewable-energy approach has yielded positive results in the projects on which the company has worked. Therefore, the company believes that a similar approach to the Belfast coal mine will prove beneficial to Exxaro.

“In a recent project that we completed in Guinea, for gold mining company AngloGold Ashanti, we designed energy-saving methods for 50 of the 250 living units for a mining-community upgrade,” says Van Rijn.

Given its level of expertise in sustainability and renewable energy in the mining industry, Arup considers itself to be at the forefront of energy- saving and cost-saving solutions in Southern Africa.

Van Rijn indicates that Arup will not be involved in further development beyond the scheduled 2017 completion date.

However, he highlights that the company will be responsible for developing management and maintenance manuals for the mine, which will assist the operators in maintaining and managing the mine beyond infrastructure completion.