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Khusela still waiting to mine
Marc Hasenfuss
Posted: Thu, 20 Nov 2008
[miningmx.com] -- JUNIOR mining company Khusela Coal, which is 80% owned by empowerment heavyweight Hosken Consolidated Investment (HCI), has still not commenced mining operations.
This time last year HCI indicated plans for Khusela to start mining by mid-2008 at the Mbali (formerly Klipoortjie) and Palesa (Loopspruit) projects were on track.
Later HCI indicated mining operations – set for four million tonnes run of mine at full production - were only likely to be fully operational at the end of 2008.
But that would be only from the Mbali operation. The Palesa mine, which will supply state power utility Eskom, is only set for full production during 2009.
The release of HCI’s interim results last week seem suggest some frustration at Khusela, with construction activities to commission the coal processing plants on Mbali and Palesa still ongoing.
HCI noted that the replacement of the project management company delayed the completion of the construction project.
So far HCI has pumped over R200m into the Khusela project, which was launched in late 2006.
HCI said efforts were currently focused on the start of mining at Palesa where unwashed coal could be mined and sold for roughly 10 months before commissioning a washing plant,
which upgrades the quality of the coal. No time frame was provided in HCI's interim update.
There was also a slight setback at Mbali, where the projects feasibility was reassessed after the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) decided to exclude a portion of the prospecting rights from its mining rights.
HCI indicated that if the DME did not reconsider the decision, Khusela would file a review application to set aside the decision.
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