JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Universal Coal’s New Clydesdale Colliery (NCC), in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province, remains on schedule for the production of first coal in September.
Coal mining contractor STA Coal Mining Company has been appointed to conduct the underground mining and has begun to re-establish operations at the Diepspruit underground section.
Mining equipment has been secured and will start arriving on site shortly.
Ingwenya Mineral Processing, which has been appointed to refurbish and operate the coal handling and processing plant, has started the refurbishment work, which is scheduled for completion at the beginning of September.
Meanwhile, negotiations with potential offtake partners, including Eskom, are being finalised.
“We look forward to bringing NCC on stream and delivering on our stated strategy of becoming a multimine coal producer.
"With our first operation, Kangala, providing strong production and cash flows, NCC will soon feature as our 'second leg' to stand on. Once the second phase of NCC is up and running and at steady state, we will be in a good position to consider shareholder returns, including dividends,” CEO Tony Weber said on Tuesday.
NCC, which hosts a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource of 130.4-million tonnes of coal, will initially produce about 900 000 t/y run-of-mine (RoM) from the underground operation.
A second-phase openpit development will start when an offtake agreement is secured and will add a further two-million tonnes a year RoM of primarily thermal coal.