ASX-listed coal producer Coal of Africa Limited (CoAL) has taken delivery of the first of five continuous miners – valued at over R80-million – from Joy Mining Machinery for its Mooiplaats opera-tion, which is situated in the Ermelo coalfield of Mpumalanga.

The order placed with Joy is for the supply and delivery of the continuous miners – boasting the latest hard-wearing protective plating and the Joy Faceboss control system – and 18 shuttle cars.

Mooiplaats is an underground single-seam thermal coal operation scheduled for commissioning in March.

Joy South Africa MD Jason Savage says: “Joy equipment has led the way by providing state-of-the-art technology to the coal industry, and the latest models of Joy continuous miners and shuttle cars are no exception.”

CoAL MD Simon Farrell says mining using the Joy continuous miners at the Mooiplaats operation is expected to start this month.

The Mooiplaats coal project is situated less than 2 km from the recently recommissioned Camden power station.

CoAL acquired 70% of Mooiplaats in February and the remaining 30% in April; this included the mining rights to portions one and nine of the farm Mooiplaats as well as prospecting rights to various neighbouring farms.

The company recently secured a long-term port allocation through the Richards Bay dry bulk terminal operated by subsidiaries of shipping group Grindrod.

The agreement provides CoAL with an allocation of 900 000 t/y and will come into effect in 2009. CoAL will be entitled to 50% of any increased capacity at the terminal.

The increased capacity will require pro rata funding by CoAL, but gives the company the potential to increase its export capacity to three-million tons a year, once the terminal expansion has been completed.