Koornfontein Coal Mine

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

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Koornfontein Coal Mine	Witbank, Nkangala, Mpumalanga, South Africa	-26.0999993, 29.4245782 (approximate)

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

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Project Type	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	Recommission	1991	–

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
3	–	–	Underground & Surface	Mixed	–	60*	358*

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
–	–	–	Witbank	Bituminous	Thermal	Richards Bay Coal Terminal

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Black Royalty Minerals	Makole Group [100.0%]	South Africa

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

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
ROM	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

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 Koornfontein coal mine is an opencast and underground mine near Witbank, in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. Mining has taken place within the Koornfontein complex since at least 1991, when operations began at the pit "Gloria." When the mine opened, it was primarily an underground mine with at least two pits, Gloria and Blinkpan.

Ownership of the mine changed many times throughout the years. In 1999, it was owned and operated by the Ingwe Coal Corporation. By 2010, Optimum Holdings had bought a majority stake in the Koornfontein Mines from Sentula Mining.

In February 2018, Optimum Holdings had to go into business rescue, which occurs when a company is financially distressed and acts as an attempt to rescue and recover it. Accordingly, Optimum mine became non-operational. It appears that the Koornfontein mine did as well. A December 2019 article cites that workers at Koornfontein mine had not received pay checks since early 2018, after the company was placed on business rescue.

The following process of finding a new owner was fraught. Lurco, a black-owned coal and chrome mining operation, had the highest bid and would've included backpay to workers. But the bid from Black Royalty Minerals won out after the business rescue practitioners added a condition that the money had to be in a South African bank account, an impossibility for Lurco. The mine went to Black Royalty Minerals, which is a subsidiary of Makole Group.

The designed capacity was initially 3.7 million tonnes per annum.But according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the designed capacity under development as of 2021 is 3 million tonnes.

The mine was placed on business rescue in February 2018, until it was bought by Black Royalty Minerals in October 2019. Operations at the mine were meant to recommence in Q1 of 2020, however, as of 2022, the status of the mine remains unclear.

• Operator: Black Royalty Minerals
• Owner: Makole Group
• Location: 40 kilometers southeast of Witbank, eMalahleni Municipality, Nkangala District, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa
• GPS Coordinates: -26.0999993, 29.4245782 (approximate)
• Status: Mothballed
• Production Capacity: 3 million tonnes per annum
• Total Resource:
• Mineable Reserves:
• Coal Type: Bituminous (Thermal)
• Mine Size:
• Mine Type: Underground (bord and pillar) and opencast
• Start Year: 1991
• Source of Financing:

Legal Controversy

Koornfontein was embroiled in a scandal when the owners were accused of "laundering of more than R100-million meant for the rehabilitation of the Optimum Coal Mine and Koornfontein Mine in 2016." The National Prosecuting Authority’s Independent Directorate has even brought criminal charges against various individuals involved in the looting of the environmental rehabilitation trust funds.

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.