Belfast Coal Mine

This article is part of the Global Coal Mine Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

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Belfast Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Belfast, Nkangala, Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Belfast Coal Mine	Belfast, Nkangala, Mpumalanga, South Africa	-25.834028, 29.987778 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	2019	–

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
–	2.65	2022	Surface	Open Pit	58.18	50*	387*

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt)	Year of Total Reserves Recorded	Total Resources (Mt)	Coalfield	Coal Type	Coal Grade	Primary Consumer/ Destination
37.2	2022	122.8	Witbank	Subbituminous	Thermal	Richards Bay Coal Terminal

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Exxaro Coal Mpumalanga Pty Ltd	Exxaro Resources Ltd [100.0%]	South Africa

Table 6: Historical production (unit: million tonnes per annum)

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
ROM	–	–	1	3	2	2	3

Expansion/Extension

Table 6: Project status

* Added capacity of a coal mine refers to the enhancement in the mine's production capabilities beyond its initial production capacity.

Status	Status Detail	Project Type	Project Phase	Added Capacity (Mtpa)*	Start Year
Cancelled	Exploration	Expansion	–	–	–

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker April 2024 release and the September supplement.

Background

The Belfast coal mine is an opencast South African coal mine, owned and operated by Exxaro Resources. It is located 10 km southwest of Belfast in the Mpumalanga province. Belfast mine is situated on the far eastern edge of the Witbank coalfield, and is adjacent to the N4 highway connecting Pretoria and Maputo.

According to Exxaro,

"The Belfast mining right was executed in October 2013 and registered in March 2015. All pending licensing appeals lodged against the operation were resolved in 2018."

Mining Weekly and Miningmx announced that the mine began operating 6 months ahead of schedule.

According to Exxaro, the mine is a "a digitally connected mine" where "Belfast maintenance teams can remotely monitor and track all the devices and access performance data." It has four operating opencast pits with the latest addition, Pit 4B, opened in 2021. The LOM (life of mine) of the Belfast mine was 17 years for the first phase, making it a high value-add coal project in the Mpumalanga region and greater South Africa as it bolsters the local coal business. The LOM has since been adjusted downwards to 12 years. A potential second phase could take Belfast’s LOM to 2043.

The Belfast plant primarily produces A-grade, export-quality coal (typical 6000 kcal/kg) at a projected volume of 2.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) and a secondary-quality product (typical 21.5 MJ/kg) for local use or export of approximately 0.5 MTPA.

Planned Expansions

In 2019, Exxaro initiated a pre-feasibility study known as the Belfast Exploration Project, which explored the option for additional opencast pits as well as an underground mining section located to the mine's north (coal reserves at Belfast mine only fall within the southern portion). Since the study revealed opencast mining as the preferred mining option, this project appears to be abandoned.

While prospects for additional opencast opportunities north of the existing operations remain on the table, no immediate plans are in the works.

• Operator: Exxaro Resources
• Owner: Exxaro Resources
• Location: 10 km southwest of Belfast in Mpumalanga, South Africa
• GPS Coordinates: -25.838062, 29.987495 (exact)
• Mine Status: Operating
• Production: 2.7 million tonnes per annum
• Total Resource: 121.9 million tonnes
• Mineable Reserves: 39.9 million tonnes
• Coal Type: Subbituminous (thermal)
• Mine Size: 5,818 hectares
• Mine Type: Surface, opencast
• Start Year: 2019
• Source of Financing:
• Number of Employees:

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.