The open-pit at Khanye Colliery is a hive of activity. A general worker is setting up a pump in an in-pit water sump while nearby a drill is penetrating the hard, black coal lining the pit bottom

“We are preparing for blasting tomorrow,” says mine manager Mike Seme.

“This will be our first blast at the colliery as we were able to ‘free dig’ the coal until now.” A yellow excavator loads the black coal into a dump truck on the other side of the pit, while a second dump truck wheels down the ramp, having untipped a load on the run-of-mine stockpile in the plant area.

In May this year, Khanye Colliery, Canyon Coal’s new coal mine near Bronkhorstspruit, succeeded at producing its first coal for the export market. The colliery reached this milestone after making its first box cut in December 2017 and steadily increasing production to 65 000 tons per month in May.

The colliery is set to further increase production by 30 000 tons per month, building up to its target of 200 000 tons per month.

Khanye has commissioned the interim crusher and processing plant and is set to complete the construction of the main processing plant for commissioning in September.

Exploration and mine development manager Clifford Hallatt says that the permanent processing plant has been customised for Khanye’s geology. “We are therefore confident that it will reach its nameplate capacity of 200 000 tons per month.”

Construction of the two permanent weigh-bridges was another milestone reached by the industrious Khanye team. “The weighbridges were inaugurated when they measured the weight of the first batch of coal produced for export, before it was conveyed to Phalanndwa Colliery for processing,” explains Seme proudly.

Khanye’s coal is currently being railed from the Forfar siding, located about 26km from the colliery. But Canyon Coal is upgrading the Bronkhorstspruit siding, which is a mere 8km away from the mine. The company has a long-term lease with Transnet for the use of the Bronkhorstspruit siding, running from the first quarter of 2019.

“The first export coal was conveyed to Richards Bay Coal Terminal via Pretoria by a test train that completed the delivery speedily and smoothly,” says Hallatt.

“It is encouraging that the quality of the coal being mined from the two lower and two upper seams is slightly higher than expected at 26 MJ/kg CV. There is a wider market for coal with volatiles that are higher than 20%,” he adds.

General manager Guy Thompson points out that developing a new mine is not without its challenges. “But Canyon is successful as we have the right standards in place and a good team.”

He adds that the mine has established a community forum and identified community representatives to engage with. Local suppliers and community members are keen to work with Khanye as there is little business development in Bronkhorstspruit.

In the months ahead, the Khanye team will oversee the construction of the processing plant, the pollution control dams, slurry dams, and other civil infrastructure required on site. Judging by the milestones Khanye has reached thus far and the bustling activity on site, the mine is on track to become one of Canyon’s valuable long-life assets.