PERTH (miningweekly.com) – South Africa-focused coal miner Universal Coal has doubled the ore reserve at its New Clydesdale colliery, in South Africa.
Universal on Thursday reported a 28.94-million tonne increase in the ore reserves at New Clydesdale, taking the ore reserve estimate to 58.24-million tonnes and confirming a mine life of more than 20-years.
“This substantial increase in ore reserves further reinforces the reason for our New Clydesdale acquisition and achieves our goal to establish a 20-year plus life of mine plan for New Clydesdale,” said Universal CEO Tony Weber.
“The mine development and the ramp up of production are progressing on scheduled and on budget, and we are on track to deliver coal into the market at full capacity by the second half of 2017.”
The colliery produced its first run-of-mine coal from the opencut mine in April this year, after starting operations in January. At full production, the New Clydesdale colliery is expected to produce some 3.3-million tonnes a year of coal.