[miningmx.com] –COAL of Africa’s (CoAl) Makhado project could be the first of four or five separate mines to be developed on the expanded ground owned by CoAL following its purchase of Rio Tinto’s Chapudi project.
Chapudi sits adjacent Makhado just north of the Soutpansberg mountain range in Limpopo Province and CoAL bought the ground from Rio Tinto for $75m in November.
CoAL has now applied for a new order mining right for Makhado but CEO John Wallington said it was unlikely any application would be made for a mining licence on a project based on the Rio Tinto ground before 2012.
The Makhado application, which will take about a year to process, could be crucial for the company’s future given the unresolved situation regarding its Vele colliery, also in Limpopo Province.
Wallington said he did not expect Makhado to run into the same degree of opposition that Vele had encountered.
He commented, “in the first place the Makhado application is being done in a far more detailed manner and will involve parallel processes with the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) and the Department of Environment Affairs (DOE).
“Secondly, we don’t expect the same issues to be raised because Makhado is not situated next to a natural heritage site.’
Vele was closed down in August last year by the DOE for non-compliance on various environmental issues because it did not have an integrated water use licence. Since then CoAL has been working with the DOE to meet its new requirements.
The mine has attracted vehement opposition from a consortium of conservation non-governmental organisations (NGOs) because of its proximity to the Mapungubwe National Park.
The NGOs want Vele closed permanently because of the threat they believe it poses to the proposed Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area intended to integrate adjacent sections of South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe across the Limpopo and Shashe rivers.
So far, two other coal projects are being looked at in the region in addition to Vele – one by Anglo American Coal and the second by Australian junior Universal Coal.
Wallington had initially hoped to have an answer on re-opening Vele by the end of 2010 but he subsequently revised that to the first quarter of 2011.
Wallington told Miningmx that, “I would like to think there will be some kind of conditional approval for Vele by the end of the first quarter.
“I would hope that approval will be part of an overall policy for the whole region because this issue is far bigger than just the Vele mine.
“It involves developments such as finalising the buffer zone around the national park because otherwise there are going to more fights in the future with the other coal companies looking to develop projects in this region.
“The lack of clarity on the situation is not good for anyone.’
