Overview

Mine Type	Underground
Status	Active
Commodities	Coal (thermal)
Mining Method	Blast Hole Stoping Bord-and-pillar
Production Start	...
Mine Life	...
Snapshot	Magdalena is a small scale bituminous mine. Following renewed interest in the Group’s bituminous coal, underground mining re-commenced at Magdalena on a small scale in Q2 2020, targeting monthly production of 8,000 tpm. During Q4 2021 a ramp-up strategy was developed for Magdalena whereby production would be increased in a phased approach increasing to one full section as part of the phase 1 ramp-up and then to two full sections as of Q1 2024 as part of the phase 2 ramp-up. Due to the delisting the Company's common shares, Buffalo Coal stopped publishing Financial Information from Q4 2022.

Deposit type

• Sedimentary

Summary:

The Magdalena area surface geology is dominated by the coal-bearing Vryheid Formation (Pv) and Karoo aged dolerites . The Vryheid Formation is present within the northern and eastern portions of the mine properties and sub-outcrops along the boundaries of the exposed dolerite. Dolerite is exposed over the central and western parts of the study area as a plateau formed by a dolerite sill.

Large portions of the farms Mount Johanna, Slieve Donald and Mourne are capped by the 30 m to 50 m thick Ingogo dolerite sill which has a transgressive undulating split from its base. The sill is broken by erosion to the northeast along a cliff-faced scarp with steep boulder strewn slopes. Dolerite dykes are masked below the plateau and have only been located where exposed along the scarp flanks and in underground workings. A widely spaced dolerite dyke network with intrusive thicknesses varying between 0.5 m to 15 m is present. Although a 6 m displacement has been encountered during mining activities, the mining environment has been fairly stable without any major displacements. The displacement was extrapolated towards the western boundary for the purpose of creating a geological model. More drilling will be required to determine the strike and length of this displacement. The current borehole spacing makes it impossible to accurately predict the existence of a fault.

The main coal seams locally identified within the Magdalena Colliery project area are named the Alfred and Gus coal seams which are developed over the majority of the project area. In the geological model the seams were named Upper Gus (UGUS) and Lower Gus (LGUS) only for modelling purposes.

The Fritz Seam is thin and poorly developed in the Magdalena Project Area, whilst the Alfred (UGUS) and Gus (LGUS) Seams are well developed. The Gus (LGUS) seam attains an average thickness of approximately 1.4 m within the study area and maximum recorded thicknesses of up to 2.8 m. The Gus seam is best developed in the central and eastern parts of the site (seam thickness of above 1.50 m). The Alfred (UGUS) seam has an estimated average thickness of 1.8 m and in some channel like features, in the central and western portions; thicknesses of 3.8 m have been recorded.

The parting between the two seams varies from 0 m in the central parts to 14 m in the northwestern areas. The average parting thickness is 3.5 m. The relative thin parting in places creates the opportunity to mine the seams as one unit in those areas.

The Alfred seam in the Magdalena area has slightly better qualities regarding CV and Ash content compared to the Gus seam. Both seams display an average sulphur content of 1.9%.

The rank of the Gus and the Alfred Seams ranges from bituminous to lean/low volatile coal to anthracite with generally high sulphur and phosphorus content. Good coking coal has been produced in the Klip River Coalfield. In general, the Klip River Coalfield contains bright coal with the rank ranging from bituminous to anthracite in the central portions of the coalfield.

Once a borehole has intersected Dwyka, one can be certain that no more coal seams will be intersected as this group forms the lower strata of the Karoo Supergroup. The Dwyka Group are of glacial origin and underlie the coal-bearing Vryheid Formation consisting of heterolithic massive and stratified diamictites, sandstones, conglomerates and varved mudstones and shales (Hancox & Götz, 2014). The sediments were deposited onto an irregular pre-Karoo basement; due to this the thicknesses vary greatly within this formation.

The coal occurrence is controlled by the current surface topography and resultant weathering profile. The coal seams sub-outcrop in regions where the surface elevations drop below 1250 mamsl towards the north of the site, and below 1270 mamsl in the eastern part of the project area.

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.

Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

Commodity	Units	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015
Coal (thermal)	t	....	....	....	1,895	296,975	426,471	553,971	672,939

Operational metrics

Metrics	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015
Coal tonnes mined	....	....	....		462,013 t	788,361 t	1,061,481 t	1,259,211 t
Tonnes processed	....	....	....	2,922 t	464,229 t

Personnel

Job Title	Name	Profile	Ref. Date
.......................	.......................		Sep 20, 2024