South Africa-focused coal miner Universal Coal has produced the first run-of-mine coal from its New Clydesdale Colliery (NCC) opencast development.
Universal said last week that opencast mining would ramp up over the next quarter, reaching steady state in the second half of the year and complementing the underground coal currently being mined from three underground sections at the adjacent Diepspruit shaft.
“With both NCC’s underground and the opencast pit now being mined simultaneously, the colliery is set to contribute significantly to the cash flow that Universal currently receives from our Kangala colliery, and its exposure to the improved thermal coal export market will diversify our revenue,” said Universal Coal CEO Tony Weber.
Opencast operations at NCC started in January as the second phase of the project’s planned 3.3-million-tonne-a-year run-of-mine development programme, following the start of underground operations in September last year.
The third section of the coal handling and preparation plant, totalling an additional 100 t/h capacity, has been fully rebuilt and is currently being commissioned, bringing the net throughput capacity to 3.3-million tonnes a year.
Meanwhile, all outstanding conditions precedent for the A$21-million NCC loan facility with Investec Bank have now been met, with the facility to fund the balance of the capital required for the development of the opencast mine and additional infrastructure, expansion of the coal handing and processing facility and general owner costs.
The first drawdown of the facility will be issued before the end of April, and the first scheduled repayment date is for the end of April 2018.