Engineering design and project management enterprise Gibb Mining has been awarded the tender to complete a feasibility study for JSE-listed Sasol Mining’s Alexander project.

The project seeks to deploy production sections within the Alexander coal blocks, in Mpumalanga, by 2025.

The project forms part of Sasol Mining’s plan to fulfil its 2050 mandate of supplying coal to the Secunda Synfuels Operations.

The Alexander project will yield between six-million and eight-million tonnes of coal a year.

Consulting engineering firm Jones and Wagener will conduct the environmental portion of the feasibility study for the Alexander project, while Gibb Mining will be responsible for all geotechnical and geohydrological aspects, with Jones and Wagener acting as subconsultants to Gibb Mining in this regard.

Gibb Mining will also be responsible for the mine design and associated planning, specifically access to the coal reserve via a boxcut and its tie-in to Sasol Mining’s overall long-term complex plan. There are three coal blocks that will be mined.

“A lot of geotechnical analysis work is required to ensure that when mining takes place, the selected mining methods do not impact on wetlands and watercourses negatively,” Gibb Mining stated in a release on Monday.

In addition to the mine design, Gibb Mining will also be responsible for the materials handling system design and all supporting infrastructure, which includes offices, buildings, workshops, a 20 km mine access road and the supply of bulk water and bulk power to the mine.

Gibb Mining is working on the feasibility engineering designs.

Once these are finalised and accepted by Sasol Mining, the company will compile a capital cost estimate based on the design, all of which will be incorporated into a feasibility study report for issue to Sasol Mining by the end of July.

Gibb Mining’s designs will need to consider all environmental constraints, as well as incorporate new technological developments that will bring efficiencies to the project and the mine operation, in terms of cost, safety and water and energy efficiency.