Photo by: Duane Daws
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Coal of Africa Limited’s (CoAL’s) share price on the JSE rose nearly 26% on Thursday morning after the company announced that the Department of Water and Sanitation had awarded its Makhado project, in Limpopo, a 20-year integrated water-use licence (IWUL).
This followed the completion of a Class II definitive feasibility study on the project in 2013, which outlined the development of ca olliery producing 2.3-million tons a year of hard coking coal and a further 3.2-million tons a year of thermal coal over the life-of-mine.
Further tests confirmed that the coal could be successfully beneficiated to produce high-strength coke for the steel manufacturing industry.
“The granting of the IWUL is a significant milestone for CoAL and is a further step towards bringing the Makhado project into production. It further signifies government’s commitment to and support of our flagship project, and its potential to foster socioeconomic transformation, not only for the communities in our area of operation, but also for the Limpopo province.
“We continue to focus on our funding requirements in order to commence construction activities in the second half of the year,” CEO David Brown commented.
CoAL on Wednesday reported that it had successfully renewed the IWUL for its Vele colliery for a 20-year period.
The company's shares on the JSE were trading at 73c a share at 10:39 on Thursday, compared with Wednesday's close of 58c a share.
The company is also listed on the Aim and the ASX.