Mining Intelligence and News
South Africa

Uitkomst Mine

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Categories

Overview

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Coal (PCI)
  • Coal (thermal)
  • Coal (metallurgical)
Mining Method
  • Bord-and-pillar
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Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotUitkomst Colliery is a high-grade coal deposit which supplies the domestic steelmaking (PCI) and API4 thermal coal markets.

Implementation of Operation Phenduka optimisation strategy at Uitkomst in June 2023 which allows for increased time underground per shift, leading to an increase in ROM coal production and reduction in unit costs.

In the FY2023 Uitkomst received approval from the Department of Mineral Resources & Energy (DMRE) to its mining right for the balance of its LOM.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
BEE 16 % Indirect
MC Mining Ltd. 84 % Indirect
MC Mining acquired an additional 14% of the colliery during FY2023 and now holds an interest of 84% (previously 70%) in Uitkomst with the remaining 16% held by two broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) trusts, one comprising employees and another host communities.

Deposit type

  • Sedimentary

Summary:

All of the known coal deposits in South Africa are hosted in sedimentary rocks of the Karoo Basin which covers approximately 60% of South Africa and is filled with units of the Karoo Supergroup.

The Karoo Supergroup is lithostratigraphically subdivided into the Dwyka, Ecca, Beaufort and Stormberg groups, succeeded by the Drakensburg Formation. The lithologies are representative of depositional environments including glacial, deep marine (including turbidite), shallow marine, deltaic, fluvial, lacustrine through to aeolian deposits. Within the Main Karoo Basin, the Karoo Supergroup as depicted in the figure below, comprises the Dwyka Formation, Ecca Group and Beaufort Group overlain in turn by the Stormberg Group and Drakensberg Group. Sediments reach 12,000 m thickness, overlain by thick flood basalts of the Drakensberg Group.

Within the Karoo Basin, 19 coalfields have been defined based on variations in sedimentation, origin, formation, distribution and quality of the coals. The coals range in age from Early Permian (Ecca Group) through to Late Triassic (Molteno Formation, Stormberg Group) and are predominantly bituminous to anthracite in rank, which is a classification in terms of metamorphism under the influence of temperature and pressure. The Gus Seam is stratigraphically located in the Vryheid Formation within the Ecca Group.

Uitkomst falls within the Utrecht Coalfield, which has a total of nine recognised coal seams which are developed to varying extents across the coalfield. At Uitkomst, only two seams are developed, namely the Alfred and Gus Seams. The Gus Seam is however the only seam of economic importance at Uitkomst Colliery, this due to the Alfred Seam being poorly developed and sporadic or too thin for economic extraction on the Uitkomst property.

The Gus Seam comprises banded bright, dull and lustrous coal in varying proportions with the lower portion of the seam invariably being of better quality than the upper part. The seam usually contains one or more fine- to medium-grained sandstone partings towards the top which may be up to 20 cm in thickness.

The seam thickness varies between 0.8 cm and 1.9 m in a north-south trending zone in the central area of the mining lease area. To the south, the seam outcrops into the Dorpspruit and Kweekspruit Valleys. The seam extends north under the escarpment where the depth of seam is approximately 300 m below surface. The seam depth rapidly increases to the north to approximately 800 m below surface.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Production

CommodityUnits2023202220212020201920182017
Coal (metallurgical & thermal) t  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe295,051329,060291,163
All production numbers are expressed as clean coal.

Operational metrics

Metrics2023202220212020201920182017
Coal tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe472,647 t505,130 t481,547 t
Coal washing plant annual capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe700 kt

Production Costs

CommodityUnits2023202220212020201920182017
Cash costs (sold) Coal (metallurgical & thermal) USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 46.9 / t   50.4 / t   45.1 / t  

Financials

Units2023202220212020201920182017
Revenue M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 26.4   32.7  
Operating Income M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 0.7  
Gross profit M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 1   5.4  
Pre-tax Income M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
After-tax Income M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 0.6  
EBITDA M USD 4.4  
Operating Cash Flow M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 2.5   6.4  

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Nov 7, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Nov 7, 2023

EmployeesContractorsTotal WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required 2023
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2022
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2021
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2020
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2019
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2018
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2017
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2016
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2015

Aerial view:

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