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.

The No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 Coal Seams are present at Elandspruit.

No. 1 Coal Seam
The No. 1 Coal Seam increases in thickness from less than 1 m along the eastern boundary where the seam pinches out, to over 4m in the western sector. In the opencast area, the seam averages 4 m in thickness whereas in the underground area in averages 2.9 m. The depth to roof of the No. 1 Coal Seam ranges from less than 10 m along the eastern boundary, to around 72 m at its deepest along the southern boundary (underground area). The gently dipping seam generally ranges in elevation from about 1 520mamsl to 1 540 mamsl.

No. 2 Lower Coal Seam
The No. 2 Lower Coal Seam ranges in thickness from less than 1m in the area of the washout, to up to 6.5m in the particularly in the north. It is unknown whether the anomalously thick seam is due to actual thickening of the coal seam, or due to correlation errors, where the No. 2 Lower and No. 2 Upper Coal Seams are situated contiguously. Due to the fact that in those boreholes where the No. 2 Lower Seam is thicker than the surrounding holes, the No. 2 Upper Seam is thinner than expected, this means that the anomalies with regard to the seam thicknesses are probably attributable to the correlation errors, as the average overall Seam 2 sequence thickness remains constant between 6 – 7m.

The No. 2 Lower Coal Seam is usually separated from the underlying No. 1 Coal Seam by less than 1m of sediments, but the interval thickness increases to over 11m in the southern eastern corner of the property. In the southeast of the property, the seam is absent along a north-south trending zone approximately 400 to 500m in width. It is possible that the seam was washed-out by a syn- or post-depositional fluvial channel. On either side of the wash-out, the seam is relatively thin and exhibits elevated ash contents. The depth to seam roof ranges from 10-20m along the eastern boundary, to over 60m in the south. The floor elevation is relatively constant, between 1530 and 1550 across the licence area, with the exception of the southwestern corner where is drops below 1520 mamsl.

No. 2 Upper Coal Seam
The No. 2 Upper Coal Seam thickness averages around 2.0m across the licence area, however it does attain thicknesses of over 4.0m in the north. It is unknown whether the anomalously thick seam is due to actual thickening of the coal seam, or due to correlation errors, where the No. 2 Lower and No. 2 Upper Coal Seams are situated contiguously. As mentioned above, the overall No. 2 Seam sequence remains at a constant thickness between 6 – 7m in these areas, which may mean that the anomalously thick or thin seams is due to correlation errors. These errors are not surprising considering the seams are often contiguous and without wireline logs, it may prove difficult to differentiate between the two seams.

The interval between the No. 2 Upper and No. 2 Lower Coal Seams ranges from non-existent in the north to over 11m in the south. The depth to roof of the No. 2 Upper Coal Seam ranges from less than 10m along the eastern boundary to over 50m in the south. The seam floor elevation is relatively constant around 1546 mamsl, however this does drop to less than 1530 mamsl in the southwestern corner of the licence area.

No. 3 Coal Seam
The presence of the No. 3 Coal Seam is dictated by its proximity to the limit of weathering, as it is eroded in areas of lower topographic elevation. It is the thinnest of the 4 seams, averaging 0.4m across the entire licence area, and never attaining thicknesses of greater than 0.6m. The interval between the No. 2 Upper and No. 3 Coal Seams is consistent across the property ranging from 12.0 to 15.5 meters. The depth to seam roof ranges from 10 – 20m in approaching the sub-crop to around 45m in the south. The No. 3 Seam accounts for approximately 4% of the total opencast resources at Elandspruit.

No. 4 Lower Coal Seam
The No. 4 Lower Coal Seam is present only in areas of elevated topography; elsewhere it has been eroded. It ranges in thickness from less than 1m as the seam approaches the sub crop, up to 2 – 3m. The 4L Seam is on average 6 – 7m above the No. 3 Coal Seam. The depth to roof ranges from less than 10m up to 35m in the southwest. The floor elevation ranges from 1550 – 1580 mamsl, indicating a gentle dip towards the south-west. The No 4 Lower Seam accounts for approximately 10% of the total opencast resources at Elandspruit.

Examination of the geological model noted that there are no major structural disturbances such as dolerite displacements or faults. The major structural irregularity present is noted in the underground sections and is the area where the No. 2 Lower Coal Seam is absent, due to a suspected washout. No dolerite or faulting has been encountered during mining, and it is not envisaged that it will affect mining operations in the future either.

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. As such, all other seams have been excluded from the UG estimations.

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

Elandspruit only generated ROM mined from opencast of 3.0mt for FY21. Mining within the underground section is still on hold pending the selection of underground mining contractors and a redesign in order to delay some low-seam mining areas.

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.

Elandspruit has a processing facility some 18km east from the mine, with a monthly capacity of 210 000 feed tons. ROM coal is trucked from the mine and processed at this processing facility from where the product is again trucked to clients. Elandspruit is providing thermal coal to Eskom and to Inland clients.

The Dense Medium Separation (DMS) Plant will be installed to treat the peas and duff generated from the crushing and screening plant. The plant is designed with two cyclone sections. The first section (cyclone) treats the Duff and Peas (0- 30mm). The second section (cyclone) treats the fines material (0-3mm) (slurry), normally 10% of the plant feed. The major benefit of this design is that from an environmental point of view there is basically no pollution, because of the filter press section which treats the slurry generated from the second cyclone of the plant, which on its own eliminates the slurry. This slurry generated from the second cyclone section flows throug ........