• Data Access
  • Your Email  
  • Your Email  
Keep me signed in.
Forgot your password?
Close
  • Forgot Your Password?
  • Enter the email you signed up with and we'll email it to you.
  • Your Email  
Close
Back
MDO
Mining Data Solutions
  • Home
  • Database
  • Subscribe
  • Sign In
  • Sign In
South Africa
Forzando Mine (Exxaro Coal Central (ECC) Complex)

This page is not tailored to
devices with screen width under 750 px.
 Location:
10 km N from Bethal, South Africa

  Regional Office:
Roger Dyason Road
PO Box 9229, Pretoria, 0001
Pretoria West
South Africa
0183
Phone  ...  Subscription required
Fax+27-12-323-3400
WebsiteWeb
Additional Resources for Suppliers & Investors
Drill results over 30 g/t Au
Stay on top of recent discoveries.
Search drill results by commodity and grade.
Largest mines in the Americas
Mining and mill throughput capaciites.
Full profiles of select mines and projects.
Deepest underground mines
Shaft depth and mill throughput data.
Full profiles of select mines and projects.
Heavy mobile equipment
HME type, model, size and quantity.
Full profiles of select mines and projects.
Permitting and construction projects
Projects at the permitting or construction stage. Full profiles of select projects.
Mines with remote camps
Camp size, mine location and contacts.
Full profiles of select mines and projects.
Mines & projects in South Africa
A list of country's mines and projects.
Full profiles of select mines and projects.
  • Overview
  • Owners
  • Geology
  • Mining
  • Processing
  • Production
  • Reserves
  • Fleet
  • Personnel
  • Filings & News

Thank you for browsing through mine profiles compiled by the Mining Data Online team.

Would you like to subcribe or schedule a Demo?
  • Name:
     
  • Company:
     
  • Position:
     
  • Phone:
  • Email:
  • Message:

Overview

StageProduction
Mine TypeUnderground
Commodities
  • Coal (thermal)
Mining Method
  • Continuous
  • Bord-and-pillar
Processing
  • Wash plant
Mine Life8 years (as of Jan 1, 2019)
The Forzando complex comprises two mining rights, Forzando South (380MR) and Forzando North (381MR), both granted in November 2011 for 16 years. Applications to renew the prospecting right of Legdaar (1846PR) and Vlaklaagte (1140PR) were timeously submitted and approvals are pending. The Kalabasfontein prospecting rights (1170PR and 1035PR) are currently under review.


Owners & OPERATOR

Source: p. 90
CompanyInterestOwnership
Mmakau Mining (Pty) Ltd 13.26 % Indirect
Exxaro Resources Ltd. 86.74 % Indirect
Forzando Coal Mines (Pty) Ltd. (operator) 100 % Direct

Deposit Type

  • Sedimentary


Summary:

Forzando geology.
Highveld coalfield hosts up to five coal seams in the middle Ecca Group sediments of the Karoo Supergroup. The stratigraphic sequence in the mine area includes five coal seams that can be correlated with seams found in the Witbank coalfield, named from the base upwards as seam 1 (S1), seam 2 (S2), seam 3 (S3), seam 4 (S4) and S5. Seam splitting is common feature in the area. This is fundamentally attributed to the proximity to the Smithfield Ridge and thus the provenance of detrital material. S2 may be split into seam 2 upper (S2U) and seam 2 lower (S2L) while S4 is split into three subseams, seam 4 lower (S4L), seam 4 upper (S4U) and S4A. Furthermore, S4A may be split into S4A1 and S4A2. S5 is generally split into the S5 and seam 5 lower (S5L).

The thickest and most ubiquitous being the S2, S4 and S5 seams. S1 is restricted to palaeo-lows while S3 only occurs on the western side of the complex. The principal economic seams currently exploited are S2L and S4L, with the remaining seams being either too thin, laterally discontinuous, poor quality or impractical/uneconomical to mine.

FZO complex is characterised by two adjoining palaeo-valleys, one in FZON and the other in FZOS. The valley in FZON has higher-quality coal while FZOS is characterised by lowerquality coal. The different coal qualities are indicative of different depositional environments and thus the different geological domains. Remnants of the Smithfield Ridge exist in the north-western edge of FZON and northern extremity of Schurvekop.

S2 occurs over most of the Forzando area, except for areas of extreme palaeo-highs along the Smithfield Ridge, along the central portion and in an isolated palaeo-hill in the north-east of the complex. The seam varies in thickness from under 1.0m to over 6.0m, with siltstone and sandstone parting typically found in areas where the seam thickness exceeds 3.5m.

The seam has been extensively devolatilised, leaving disconnected pockets of unaffected coal. Within these pockets, coal quality is extremely variable with high ash content resulting from the prevalence of thin shaly partings. The lack of continuity of unburnt coal renders it of no economic value.

Throughout the area the S4 consists, from top down, of S4A (a gritstone parting), S4U (siltstone and coarse-grained sandstone parting) and the S4L. In the east, the siltstone and coarse-grained sandstone below have been eroded, leaving only the overlying grit. Both S4A and S4U are rarely thick enough and too poor in quality to be considered economic. S4L is the only seam that is thick enough, of sufficient quality and developed throughout the area to warrant economic extraction in prevailing economics. In the FZO complex area, the thickness of the seam ranges from 0.5m to 4.0m with an average of 2.1m.

The total FZO area has been intruded by Karoo dolerites even though the impact on S4 is comparatively small and confined to those areas where they come close to or intersect the seams. Transgressive sills with a thickness of 5m to 30m have been noted, resulting in extensive burning of coal in areas, particularly where the sill either closely underlies or overlies the seam. Seams are also burnt and devolatilised near the sill transgression zones with burnt zones ranging from a few metres to 20m.

Dolerite dykes and stringers with a thickness ranging from 0.5m to 5.0m are commonly encountered in the FZO complex. Dolerite structures have a tendency to pinch and swell, even over very short distances. Dolerite stringers are thought to be offshoots from the dykes which in turn feed from the dolerite sills below. Dykes in the area are noted as having a general preferred orientation of north-west to south-east and north-east to south-west. Burnt coal zones associated with dykes/stringers vary considerably from zero to ±10m with the width of the burnt zone not necessarily relating to the thickness of the dyke/stringer. These geological risks are well managed through extensive surface vertical and underground horizontal drilling in areas of concern, use of downhole wireline logging for better correlation, underground channel sampling incorporated in the short-term planning model, underground face mapping to track both vertical and lateral variations in the lithology, which assists with reconciliations and structural interpretation, and surface mapping, particularly of basement outcrops.


Mining Methods

  • Continuous
  • Bord-and-pillar


Summary:

The complex covers 12 113ha and comprises two underground operations, namely Forzando North Colliery (FZON) and Forzando South Colliery (FZOS). FZOS is characterised by mechanised bord- and-pillar mining using a suite of continuous mining (CM) equipment. The operation is currently exploiting the seam 4 lower (S4L) with five CM sections and is supported by a fleet of primary and secondary mining equipment. FZOS is in its fourteenth year of operation. FZON also uses mechanised bord-and-pillar mining using a suite of CM equipment to exploit primarily the S4L, although seam 2 lower (S2L) was also previously exploited. After operating for 20 years, FZON was placed under care and maintenance in February 2014. It was recommissioned in October 2018 with one CM section targeting the S4L, investigations are currently under way to determine the viability for the future of the operation.


Crushing and Grinding


Processing

  • Wash plant

Source: Subscription required

Summary:

Surface infrastructure still in use includes: mine buildings (offices, workshops and change houses), box-cuts to access the coal seam, conveyor belt systems, two coal-washing plants and a rapid coal-loading facility (rapid loading terminal) linked to the main Richards Bay Coal Terminal via a privately owned railway loop.

RoM from FZOS is conveyed by surface to the beneficiation plant at FZON. Both operations support the export market. Discard from FZON is rewashed to add to the coal product mix.


Combined production numbers are reported under Exxaro Coal Central (ECC) Complex

Operational Metrics:

Metrics20202019201820172016
Coal tonnes mined  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required2.07 Mt of ROM coal2.4 Mt of ROM coal2.3 Mt of ROM coal
^ Guidance / Forecast.
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Reserves at December 31, 2019:

CategoryTonnage Commodity
Proven 23.9 Mt Coal (thermal)
Probable 10.7 Mt Coal (thermal)
Proven & Probable 34.6 Mt Coal (thermal)
Measured 85.5 Mt Coal (thermal)
Indicated 36.3 Mt Coal (thermal)
Inferred 26.4 Mt Coal (thermal)
Total Resource 148.2 Mt Coal (thermal)


Heavy Mobile Equipment as of December 31, 2019:
HME TypeQuantity
Continuous miner 6

Mine Management:

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 16, 2020
Subscription required - Subscription is required.


Corporate Filings & Presentations:

DocumentYear
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2019
Annual Report 2017
Year-end Mineral Reserves 2017
Annual Report 2016
Year-end Mineral Reserves 2016
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Aerial view:

Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Terms of Use Privacy Policy © 2020 MDO Data Online Inc.