The rising living standards in emerging economies, such as China and India, is expected to boost primary coal demand by more than a third between 2010 and 2013 as electricity use increases, says South African Coal Processing Society (SACPS) chairperson Kobus du Plessis.

Coal demand would grow as the demand for electricity increased, he explained.

“During 2012, the saleable coal produced in South Africa amounted to about 250-million tons, with about 75% of that coal used locally and 25% exported,” he told the SACPS’s yearly dinner, held in Johannesburg earlier this month.

Du Plessis pointed out that there was still about 60-billion tons of coal reserves available in South Africa.

Meanwhile, well-known coal personality Peter Lidgate was awarded the SACPS Coal Man of the Year title at the dinner for his contribution to coal processing.

“I am honoured to receive this recognition, especially given some of its most distinguished recipients, and I would like to thank the committee for their support. Success in a particular field is often a result of the people who surround you and in this regard I have indeed been fortunate to have been surrounded by enthusiastic, capable and competent people,” Lidgate said in a statement read by Du Plessis as he currently resides in the UK and was unable to attend the event.

The SACPS student awards were also presented.

The society recently decided to award students across two fields of education, comprising universities and training colleges, and the winners for 2012 were Nelson Mahulane and JD Singleton.

Mahulane completed the advanced coal preparation course at Colliery Training College, in Emalahleni, last year, and is currently employed at diversified major BHP Billiton’s Middelburg mine South Plant.

Singleton is completing his master’s dissertation at the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering. He received the award for his work, titled ‘The development and evaluation of a dense media cyclone for the Southern African minerals and coal industries’.

Singleton will also present a paper, titled ‘The latest classification cyclone technology improving overall plant performance at Phola Coal’, at this year’s SACPS conference, which will take place from July 23 to 25, in Secunda, Mpumalanga.

The theme for the 2013 conference is ‘Coal processing – increasing the value of coal utilisation’ and the keynote speakers will include Dave Osborn, US coal producer Arch Coal senior processing consultant Peter Bethell and diversified resources group Exxaro executive head for growth, technology and services Ernest Venter.

International speakers from India, Germany and Finland will also present technical papers.

Confirmed technical session topics at the conference would include the history and future of coal, planning and control, new equipment, screening, flotation, fine-coal beneficiation, dense medium cyclones, new developments, power from waste coal, coal uses and marketing quality, the SACPS stated in a media release.