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Location: 76 km SW from Middelburg, South Africa
Off the Van Dyksdrift Road, the farm GoedehoopMpumalangaMiddelburgSouth Africa1050
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The Elandspruit, Khanyisa, Vanggatfontein and Moabsvelden Collieries are located within the Witbank Coalfield. The northern extent of the Coalfield is defined by the limit of coal-bearing sediments of the Vryheid Formation which abut against pre-Karoo basement rocks of the Transvaal Sequence, the Waterberg Group and Bushveld Complex. The southern limit of the central sector of the Coalfield is marked by a series of Bushveld Complex inliers known as the Smithfield Ridge while in the east and west sectors, the boundary between the Witbank Coalfield and the Highveld Coalfield to the south is somewhat arbitrary. The five major coal seams of the coalfield are contained within a stratigraphic interval averaging approximately 70m in thickness. The seams are numbered, from the base upwards and include the No. 1 Coal Seam, the No. 2 Coal Seam (split into the No. 2 Lower Coal Seam and No. 2 Upper Coal Seam), the No. 3 Coal Seam, the No. 4 Coal Seam (split into the No. 4 Lower Coal Seam and No. 4 Upper Coal Seam) and the uppermost No. 5 Coal Seam.Locally, three coal seams are developed across the licence area – namely the No. 5 Seam, No. 4 Seam and the No. 2 Seam. The No. 2 and No. 4 Seams are the primary economic targets, with the addition of the No. 5 Seam where the thickness, quality and continuity allow. The No. 3 Seam is not developed at all. The No. 4 Seam is divided into the No. 4 Lower (4L) and No. 4 Upper (4U) Coal seams, based on the presence of a mudstone parting, which is on average 0.4m thick. The 4U is the poorer portion of the seam and requires beneficiation to produce an Eskom product. The 4L is the better quality, lower portion of the seam and is suitable for crushing and screening to produce an Eskom product. The parting between the 4 Seam and the 2 Seam ranges from less than 0.5m in the north to almost 10m in the south. It also changes in nature from a carbonaceous mudstone in the north, to a predominantly sandstone horizon in the south. As per the No. 4 Seam, the No. 2 Seam is also split into a No. 2 Upper (2U) and No. 2 Lower (2L) Seam when there is the presence of a mudstone parting. The 2P parting which separates the 2U from the 2L is on average 0.4m thick. The 2U is the poorer quality top portion of the seam and requires washing in order to make an Eskom product, whereas the 2L is the higher quality lower half of the seam and is suitable for crushing and screening to produce an Eskom product. There is a palaeo-high identified in the south-west of the licence area, and this has had a direct impact on the nature and quality of the coal seams. In close proximity to this basement high, both the No. 4 and No. 2 Seams display thinner seams, with higher ash contents.
