Page 9 - AfrElec Week 40

AfrElec COAL AfrElec

South32 says coal sale to Seriti

Resources will complete in 2020

SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH African coal miner South32 is confi- (Zico) and Community Investment Holdings
dent that it can sell South Africa Energy Coal (CIH). South32 has commented in the past
(SAEC), its last remaining asset, in the country’s about the CSA to Duvha’s power station in
coal sector by the end of 2020. Mpumalanga Province. The contract is under-
South32 CEO Mike Fraser said this week that water money and was deemed “prejudicial” to
he was still “positively optimistic” that the com- the company’s Wolverkrans Middelburg Com-
pany will close the sale of SAEC to unlisted Seriti plex, which only makes money if the price of the
Resources, Reuters reported. export portion of its production is high enough.
However, he admitted that the deal had taken Seriti will supply about 30% of the Eskom’s
longer than he anticipated. 120mn tonnes per year (tpy) annual demand
“There were a number of complex contracts once it concludes the SAEC purchase. It had pre-
[in SAEC], not least of which is with Eskom and viously bought the domestic coal mines of Anglo
the coal sales agreement (CSA) to Duvha. It was American. Seriti supplies coal to Eskom’s Tutuka,
a difficult contract and it would have been unrea- Lethabo and Kriel power stations and has an
sonable for Seriti to take it on,” said Fraser. upcoming mining project, the New Largo Coal
The deal, which will increase Seriti’s share of Mine, intended to supply coal to Kusile power
the thermal coal market supplying Eskom, had station. SAEC supplies the Duvha and Kendal
to secure approval from South Africa’s mines power stations from its Khuthala and Ifalethu

ministry and competition authorities.When the mines.
deal goes through, Seriti will be the largest single In June, Seriti and a consortium backed by
supplier to Eskom. global energy trader Mercuria were among up to
At the start of September, South Africa’s six groups that submitted final bids for South32’s
Competition Commission recommended that South African coal assets. Seriti bought Anglo
the Competition Tribunal approve the deal. American’s New Largo coal assets in 2017 and
Seriti is a 91% black-owned and controlled has said it is on the hunt for more, including
South African mining company. It is co-owned South Africa’s Optimum Coal mine, formerly
by four black anchor shareholders: Masimong owned by Glencore.
Group; Thebe Investments; Zungu Investments South32 itself was spun out of BHP in 2015.™

RENEWABLES

Voltalia to build 12-MW solar plant at

Caledonia Mining’s Zimbabwe gold mine

ZIMBABWE AIM-LISTED Caledonia Mining has appointed provider and is listed on the regulated market of
Voltalia to build a 12-MW solar power plant at Euronext Paris.
the Blanket gold mine in Zimbabwe. The company has considerable experience
The announcement comes after Caledonia in the delivery of renewable energy projects,
Mining secured $13mn in required funds in including the development, construction, oper-
September to invest in the construction of the ation and maintenance of solar power plants. It
project. is already active in Burundi, Malawi and South
Upon completion, the solar power plant is Africa.
expected to provide about 27% of the mine’s total Caledonia and Voltalia have agreed an initial
electricity demand. design phase for the project, after which, subject
This will significantly reduce the risk to the to the conclusion of an engineering, procure-
mine of any further deterioration in the qual- ment and construction (EPC) contract, procure-
ity of grid power, which would necessitate the ment and construction are anticipated to begin.
increased use of diesel generators – which are The planned commissioning of the 12-MW
substantially more expensive than grid power. solar plant is expected to be completed in the last
The plant will also reduce the mine’s environ- quarter of 2021.
mental footprint. Caledonia raised the funds required to build
Voltalia is an international renewable energy the plant by way of an offering at the market

Week 40 08•October•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9