Name of the Mine
Elandspruit Colliery.

Location  
Elandspruit is located about 8 km west of Middelburg, in Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Mine Owner/s  
Holding company Salungano Group (formerly Wescoal).

Brief Description  
Elandspruit currently mines the No 1 coal seam (underground and opencast), and the No 2 and No 4 coal seams (opencast).

Brief History  
Elandspruit produced first coal during 2015 from the northern-most pit and progressed southwards with operations. The underground operation started producing in 2016. Underground operations stopped in 2018 and restarted in mid-2021.

Primary Metals/Minerals  
Coal.

Secondary Metals/Minerals  
None stated.

Geology/Mineralisation  
Salungano’s March 2022 resource and reserve report says the coal at Elandspruit comes from what is known as a “multiple seam” deposit. This means the coal is not found in one big layer, but in several separate layers. Each of these coal seams is usually between 0.5 m and 7 m thick. In between the coal seams are much thicker layers of ordinary rock and soil, which are often much thicker than the coal layers themselves.

No dolerite or faulting has been encountered during mining, and it is not envisaged that it will affect mining operations in the future.

Reserves  
As at March 31, 2022, Elandspruit included a total run-of-mine (RoM) coal reserve of 8.92-million tonnes.

Resources  
Total coal resources as at March 31, 2022, were estimated at 9.2-million tonnes.

Type of Mine
Opencast and underground.

Mining Method  
Opencast operations are based on the standard strip mining and rollover methodology, with underground operations based on standard bord-and-pillar methodology with no secondary extraction.

Major Infrastructure/Equipment  
Infrastructure includes opencast pits, underground operations and its own dedicated processing plant. It has capacity for about 3.1-million tonnes a year RoM and processing of about 2.5-million tonnes a year. 

Prospects  
None stated.

Contact Details 
Salungano Group (mining office)
Tel +27 13 492 0243
Website https://salunganogroup.com/