The Magdalena area surface geology is dominated by the coal-bearing Vryheid Formation (Pv) and Karoo aged dolerites (Figure 7-15). 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 nam ........

Magdalena consists of a defunct opencast mining area (ceased operations March 2015) and numerous adits that provide access to the target Alfred and Gus coal seams in the area. Mine access is currently through an adit complex (men and material, coal clearance by conveyor and intake ventilation main fans).

The Alfred seam height varies between 1.5 m to 2.3 m with minimal mining dilution. The Gus seam height similarly varies between 1.5 m and 2.2 m. When the parting between the two seams is <=0.5 m the combined seam height varies from 3.5 m to >5.0 m. Depth of cover increases from north to south with the majority of the current mine plan being shallower than 140 m below surface.

The mine currently employs the conventional drill and blast, bord and pillar mining method utilizing conventional mining equipment, handheld coal drills for coal production and roof support, and battery powered scoops (previously a continuous miner operation). Currently mining is in progress utilising a small mine team at Magdalena. In June 2022, the mine will start to ramp up production to a full section, increasing ROM production to 20,000 tpm from July 2022 until December 2023.

In January 2024, an additional (second) conventional drill and blast section will be employed, increasing production for the next 10 years to some 36,000 – 43,000 tpm (average 39,700 tpm) over two 10-hour production shifts, Monday to Friday. Thereafter production will be scaled down again to a ........

A wash plant was constructed and commissioned at Magdalena during 2007 and comprises crushing, screening, coal washing by Dense Media Separation (“DMS”), a spiral plant and slimes handling. The plant is capable of processing 125,000 tpm when operating on a Full Calendar Operations (“FULCO”) basis. The plant is currently operating on an adhoc basis. Two shift basis reduces the capacity of the plant to 70,000 tpm.

The raw coal at Magdalena is crushed underground by mechanical feeder breakers that reduce the coal to a suitable size for transport by conveyor belt to the surface stockpile. The coal is then fed through two stages of roll crushers, which reduce the size down to 90 mm and 50 mm respectively. The crushed raw coal is then fed to two preparation screens that divide the coal to three size factions. The screened coal at a size of between 25 mm to 50 mm is then fed through a Teska Bath DMS separator. The discard is rejected to waste and the product is fed to the product b ........