Mining Intelligence and News
South Africa

Aviemore Mine

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Overview

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Coal (hard coking)
Mining Method
  • Pillar extraction
  • Bord-and-pillar
  • Blast Hole Stoping
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SnapshotBuffalo Coal’s total anthracite resources are referred to as the Aviemore Mine. These include the anthracite resources at Aviemore East(Aviemore East is approaching the end of its life), mineable resources at the Balgray anthracite project, which is an extension of the Aviemore East reserve, and the Aviemore North Adit anthracite project.

On April 20, 2023, Buffalo Coal Corp. is pleased to announce the completion of the going private transaction by way of share consolidation, which was approved by the Company's shareholders at the special meeting of shareholders held on April 17, 2023. In connection with the Consolidation, the common shares of the Company will be delisted from trading on the TSX Venture Exchange at the end of the trading day on April 21, 2023 and on the Alternative Exchange managed by JSE Limited on April 28, 2023.

Due to the delisting the Company's common shares, Buffalo Coal stopped publishing Financial Information from Q4 2022.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Black Economic Empowerment(B-BBEE Commission) 30 % Indirect
Buffalo Coal Corp. 70 % Indirect
Zinoju Coal (Pty) Ltd. (operator) 100 % Direct
Buffalo Coal Corp. owns a 100% interest in Buffalo Coal Dundee Proprietary Limited (“BC Dundee”), a South African company with an interest in two coal mines, the Aviemore East anthracite mine, an underground mining operation, and the Magdalena bituminous mine.

BC Dundee indirectly holds a 70% interest in the BC Dundee Properties through its 70% interest in Zinoju Coal Proprietary Limited (“Zinoju”), which holds all the mineral rights with respect to the BC Dundee Properties. The remaining 30% interest in Zinoju is held by South African Black Economic Empowerment ("BEE") partners.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Sedimentary

Summary:

The surface geology covering the Aviemore area is mainly composed of the coal-bearing Vryheid Formation (Pv), with Karoo aged dolerites and Volksrust Formation (Pvo) present within the central parts of the site . The Vryheid Formation is present within the majority of the mine properties and sub-outcrop along the boundaries of the exposed dolerite. Dolerite is exposed over the central parts of the study area as a prominent hill formed by a dolerite sill. Volksrust Formation rocks outcrop within the central part of the site around the hill formed by a dolerite sill. Quaternary deposits are located within riverbeds towards the north and north-east of the site. The Aviemore Colliery was divided into an Impati North section (includes the area covered by 174MR and the northern parts of 301MR) and an Impati South section (covered by 100083MR and the southern portions of 301MR) in the 2014 Gemecs resource report. The Vryheid formation in the Impati North section is about 380 m thick. In the Impati North section, the Utrecht and Zuinguin dolerite sills are present. At least three major displacements occur in the resource area which range from 20 m to 50 m. The flat plateau of the Impati Mountain in the Impati South section comprises the partially weathered upper zone of a ±100 m dolerite sill overlying a thin ±10 m basal unit of the Volksrust Formation (Upper Ecca Group), grading downwards into the dolerite dyke and sill intruded sediments of the Vryheid Formation (Middle Ecca Group). The Vryheid Formation hosts the very poorly to moderately developed Bonas and Fritz Seam coal seams, a poorly to moderately developed Alfred Seam and a reasonably developed Gus Seam which is the economic mining target. A thick dolerite sill transgresses the sediments along the northern scarp of Impati Mountain in a southerly direction with an upwards displacement of the coal seam horizons of about 37 m to the south. A complex transgressive ring dyke structure has been roughly outlined below the western scarp of Impati Mountain which hosts an inaccessible ± 40 m downthrown coal area. The coal horizons within this block are severely dolerite intruded. The heat of the dolerite intrusions has devolatilised the coal horizons. The main economic coal seams locally identified within Aviemore Colliery area are the Gus and Alfred coal seams, which are developed over large parts of the project area. The Gus seam attains an average thickness of approximately 1.75 m within the study area, with maximum seam thicknesses of above 3.00 m encountered in small areas of the north and south-western parts of the site. The Alfred seam has an estimated average thickness of 0.82 m and reaches thicknesses of over 1.50 m within the south-western corner of the mineral rights boundary. The coal occurrence is controlled by the current surface topography and resultant weathering profile. The main coal seams generally sub-outcrop in regions where the surface elevations drop below 1280 mamsl towards the north and east of the site. DEPOSIT TYPES The Karoo Supergroup of late Carboniferous to Middle Jurassic age (320 – 180 Ma) hosts all of the South African coal deposits and was formed in the great Gondwana basin which comprises parts of Southern Africa, India, Antarctica, Australia and South America. South African coal, in common with other Gondwana coals, was therefore formed in a cold to cool climate, in contrast with the Carboniferous Laurasian coals that owe their origin to tropical rain forests. South African coal deposits are confined within the main Karoo basin and specifically within the Vryheid Formation of the Ecca Group. The coal deposits are found in two major tectonic settings, namely stable cratonic platforms and fault-bounded rift basins. Those in the main Karoo basin are typical of the former and those of the northern parts of South Africa, of the latter. In the main Karoo basin, the rank of the Ecca coal increases in an easterly direction.

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

Due to Buffalo Coal Corp. announcing the completion of the going private transaction by way of share consolidation, the operational results for 2022 are published for the period Q1 – Q3 2022.
CommodityUnits20222021202020192018201720162015
Coal (hard coking) t  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe292,007323,078321,208338,620299,126
All production numbers are expressed as clean coal.

Operational metrics

Metrics20222021202020192018201720162015
Coal tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe
Tonnes processed  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe485,382 t of ROM coal485,067 t of ROM coal
Coal tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe451,054 t of ROM coal487,398 t of ROM coal487,162 t of ROM coal496,343 t of ROM coal472,994 t of ROM coal
Raw coal annual capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Operating Costs

Currency2021202020192018
UG mining costs ($/t processed) ZAR 305  273  269  246  
Direct operating costs ($/t processed) ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Processing costs ($/t processed) ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe

Financials

Units202220212020201920182017
Revenue M ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 290.8   336.6   285.3  

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 25, 2023

Aerial view:

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