Formations present are part of the Karoo Supergroup. The Karoo Supergroup is renowned for its fossil wealth. The Vryheid Formation (Pe,Pv), Ecca Group is rich in plant fossils such as the Glossopteris flora represented by stumps, leaves, pollen and fructifications. This formation is early to mid-Permian in age and consists of sandstone, shaly sandstone, grit, conglomerate, coal and shale. Coal seams are present in the Vryheid Formation within the sandstone and shale layers. Fossils are mainly present in the grey shale which is interlayered between the coal seams.

The area to the west is covered by the Wilgerivier Formation of the Waterberg Group (sandstone, conglomerate, quartzite), the Dwyka Group and the Loskop Formation (shale, sandstone, conglomerate, volcanic rocks). The Farm Elandspruit 291 JS was visited and there are some visible rocky outcrops of the Vryheid Formation on the surface visible as baked shale. The topsoil, subsoil and overburden may be substantial (± 14 m deep) and most of the land is covered in grassland. Coal seams present are 4 Seam and 2 Seam.

The first intersected coal seam is approximately 14.61 m below the surface, with an average parting thickness of 0.97 m between the 2 and 2L Seams, and a total coal thickness average of 6.09 m thick.

Large areas of the southern African continent are covered by the Karoo Supergroup. The Ecca Group is early to midPermian (545-250 Ma) in age. Sediments of the Ecca group are lacustrine and marine to fluvio-deltaic (Snyman 1996). The Ecca group is known for its coal (mainly the Vryheid Formation) (5 coal seams) and uranium. Coalfields formed due to the accumulation of plant material in shallow and large swampy deltas. The Ecca Group conformably overlies the Dwyka Group and is conformably overlain by the Beaufort Group, Karoo Supergroup. It consists essentially of mudrock (shale), but sandstone-rich units occur towards the margins of the present main Karoo basin in the south, west and northeast, with coal seams also being present in the north-east (Johnson 2009) (Kent 1980).

The Vryheid Formation is named after the type area of Vryheid-Volksrust. In the north-eastern part of the basin the Vryheid Formation thins and eventually wedges out towards the south, southwest and west with increasing distance from its source area to the east and northeast (Johnson 2009). The Vryheid Formation consists essentially of sandstone, shale, and subordinate coal beds, and has a maximum total thickness of 500 m. It forms part of the Middle Ecca (Kent 1980). This formation has the largest coal reserves in South Africa. The prodelta sediments are characterised by trace and plants fossils (Snyman 1996).

Coal has always been the main energy source in industrial South Africa. It is in this part of Mpumalanga, south of the N4, that most of the coal-fired power stations are found. Eskom is by far the biggest electricity generator in Africa. Thick layers of coal just below the surface are suited to open-cast mining and where the overlying sediments are too thick, shallow underground mining. In 2003, coal was South Africa’s third most valuable mineral commodity and is also used by Sasol for fuel- and chemicals-from-coal (Norman and Whitfield 2006).

Vaalian to post-Mokolian diabase intrusions occur throughout the area in the form of sills and dykes. The Witbank coalfield has five minable seams with No. 1 at the base and No 5 at the top. It is a basin-like feature (9000 km²) that extends from Brakpan in the west to Belfast in the east. 2 Seam provides most of the coal mined to date. Coal seams ranges in thickness between 80-200 m.

The Elandspruit area is located on Ecca strata, including the coal seams, which generally dip towards the west, displaying a weak undulating altitude. The predominant coal seams located within the mining area are 4 Seam, 3 Seam and 2 Seam. The borehole logs show the following layers; soil, shale and sandstone, shale and sandstone interbedded, sandstone, coal, conglomerate reworked diamictite, Dwyka Tillite, and the Pre-Karoo Basement at a level of 110 m. (Huisamen 2013).

Operations at Elandspruit were affected by high rainfall and the national lockdown due to COVID- 19. Elandspruit opencast production, however, was ramped up during FY20. Production of 785kt during Q4FY20 was an increase of 39% on the comparable quarter ending March 2019 and 26% on the immediately preceding quarter. The increase was due to optimisation of the mine pit configuration by increasing the coal face length and the deployment of additional equipment to increase the production rate. The underground section of Elandspruit Mine is expected to resume production during 2HFY21. [03/31/2020, Financial Review, p.2]

Coal reserves for Elandspruit are based on the current mining strategy with regards to both opencast and underground operations. Opencast operations are based on standard strip mining and rollover methodology, with underground being based on standard bord and pillar methodology with no secondary extraction.

Currently, all seams present within the delineated opencast areas are scheduled for mining, namely the No. 4 Lower coal seam, No. 3 coal seam, No. 2 Upper and Lower coal seams and the No. 1 coal seam. Within the underground mining area, only the No. 1 coal seam is targeted for mining.

The ROM will be loaded and hauled to the designated area adjacent to the Crush & Screen plant from where the coal will be initially fed to the crushing and screening plant. The plant is designed to process 200 tonnes ROM (>0-300mm) per hour from the Mine, which is first fed into the plant’s crusher (primary) and screening section, which crushes and screens out the material to a 0-90mm range. From there it is screened to a 30-60mm product, creating nuts. All > 60 – 90mm particles go through a secondary crusher that crushes the material and the screening section removes 0-30mm particles of which the 9-30mm particles are called peas and the 0-8/9mm duff. The plant will produce nuts, duff and peas. The plant covers a footprint of 82 meters in length by 50 meters in width. From an environmental point of view the plant has minimal impact. It is also situated within the Pollution Control Dam section of the Mine.

Coal will also be beneficiated on site. The Dense Medium Separation ........