MIDDELBURG, Mpumalanga (miningweekly.com) – The troubled Optimum Colliery, having emerged from a business rescue process in February 2024, is being rapidly revived with a multibillion-rand investment from Liberty Coal to ramp up mining, processing and exports.

This investment – in excess of R3-billion to date – is driving significant revitalisation activity around the once expansive and highly productive mining complex.

Acquired by Liberty in February 2024 as part of a successful business rescue transaction, Optimum has a long history in South Africa’s coal mining sector, dating back to 1970 when the complex was developed to supply coal to State power utility Eskom’s Hendrina power station. The power station is less than 2 km from Optimum’s heavy dense media separation (HMS) plant and less than 5 km from Optimum’s mine offices.

Mining Weekly visited the vast 38 000 ha mining complex on July 21, where a newly refurbished dragline was seen in operation at the Kwagga mine – a single renewal project that in itself cost Liberty R460-million.

In its heyday, Optimum Colliery operated the most extensive fleet of the biggest models of draglines in the whole of Africa, according to a senior mine representative.

Draglines the size of the 100-m-long boom Marion 8200 are no longer manufactured, but would carry a price tag of about R2-billion in the current economic climate if they were, as confirmed by a Kwagga mine representative involved in its restoration.

Liberty Coal COO Peter Nordin said a single dragline replaces eight excavators and enabled significant economies of scale for the company and, as a result, its restoration was an easy decision to make.

He added that as a dragline had not been successfully recommissioned in South Africa for nearly six years, Marion 8200 Number 3’s restoration was “a significant moment in Liberty’s achievements” to date.

Mining Weekly visited the mine in December 2022, where two Marion 8200s and a Bucyrus dragline were observed parked, derelict and in a state of disrepair after years of abandonment following Optimum’s decline in the years of State capture after the Gupta family acquired it in 2015.

These draglines – which can excavate coal to depths of nearly 80 m while hoisting about 135 t of material in a single scoop – enable Liberty to undertake large-scale overburden stripping to expose underlying coal seams.

As part of the dragline refurbishment project, major load-bearing components underwent structural integrity assessments and non-destructive testing, while the machine’s bucket, rigging and fairlead assemblies were inspected and refurbished to optimise performance. The walking mechanism, slew system and lubrication systems were also serviced to restore full operational reliability.

In terms of acquiring skilled dragline operators, Nordin said Liberty Coal was fortunate to be in the vicinity of other current dragline operations, with one particular such operation recently having ceased some dragline duties.

Liberty plans to refurbish the other two draglines at Kwagga mine, with a feasibility exercise set to be undertaken on restoring the other Marion 8200 in 2027, following which some parts (with a lead time of up to 24 months) will need to be manufactured. The Bucyrus restoration will be undertaken once the second Marion is operationalised.

“Within the next five years, we will have three draglines operating,” stated Nordin.

In terms of amalgamating the various detached mines that made up Optimum in the past, he said Liberty had consolidated the nine previously separate opencast mines at Optimum under a single mining right now registered to the company.

Liberty is also advancing plans to revive the historic Boschmanspoort underground mine within the same mining right, with production expected to begin by February 2027.

HMS PLANT RE-COMMISSIONING

In addition to mine upgrades and recommissioning activities, Liberty is investing R200-million to revitalise Optimum’s HMS plant, where work is progressing rapidly.

This plant was extensively stripped by vandals during the period in which the mine was abandoned, resulting in extensive repair work being required to restore its operational capability.

Construction and equipment specialists were observed on July 21 undertaking replacement of electrical cables, pump restoration, cyclone repairs and conveyor infrastructure reinstatement, among various other tasks.

Such is the degree and speed of plant recommissioning that Nordin said the HMS plant was expected to resume operations as part of the Phase 1 undertakings in August and September 2026 – a time at which the plant is expected to operate at about 450 000 t a month. This is sufficient to cover the majority of Liberty’s export allocation through the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT), even though the company was already achieving this prior to the reinstatement of the HMS plant.

Phase 2 and Phase 3 of HMS plant upgrades will increase production to between 700 000 t and 800 000 t a month.

With the HMS plant, the company will be able to offer higher-value products, such as RB1 and RB2 grades of coal. Liberty currently produces RB2, RB3 and RB4 grades of coal.

In terms of production targets and ramp-up over the next three to five years, he said Liberty’s goal was to continue to fulfil its RBCT coal export allocation.

Currently, Liberty exports between 400 000 t and 500 000 t of coal a month to various markets including India, Singapore and Japan. “We have a very vast base of clients all over the world. It has been our [aim] to first hit our export targets before going into the domestic market.”

Once the HMS is operational, Liberty will start to prioritise getting the plant conveyors back up and online.

RAIL SIDING RAMP-UP

On the back of reinstating the HMS plant, Liberty is also expanding its nearby rail siding capacity with the restoration of one of two 10 000 t silos to bring back rapid rail wagon loading to improve export efficiencies.

As things stand, Liberty uses wheel loaders to load 8 500-t-capable trains in a four-hour turnaround schedule. While Transnet delivers the wagons and returns four hours after delivery with locomotives to rail coal to RBCT for export, the addition of the rapid loadout silos would enable trains to be loaded in about two hours.

With the addition of one rapid load-out silo, Optimum’s train calls a week can be increased from the current 12 to 15.

The recommissioning of the second silo is dependent on plant ramp-up timing and how much extra rail capacity is made available by Transnet, said Nordin. “If Transnet can perform to the 85-million to 90-million tonnes which RBCT is designed [to handle] in the next two to three years, we will be in a position to be able to supply [that extra] coal from our Pullenshope siding.”

In addition, he said that, should Liberty expand and put itself in a position to supply the local market, the mine would be ramped up to produce between 1.5-million and 2-million tonnes of coal a month. “In full production we want to be on a run-of-mine of 1.5-million tonnes a month . . . being able to sell between 800 000 t and 1.2-million tonnes a month.”

The nearby Hendrina power station is also still in the sights of Liberty, said Nordin, with the mine eyeing a potential future coal supply contract should Eskom open a new round of tendering.

There are talks of Eskom potentially revitalising this power station in five years’ time.