An emergent Botswana coal miner has set itself a mammoth task to produce 2.4-million tons of coal a year and sell it mainly to SA’s market. Minergy, which is listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange, is the first company to obtain a licence for open-cast coal mining in the country, where it has an estimated 390-million ton resource with a life of mine of 100 years. The company intends to produce the 2.4-million tons a year, a large portion of which is aimed at inland SA industrial coal users that face supply shortages, such as cement producers, sugar and paper mills. Minergy’s Masama mine is 50km north of the capital city of Gaborone and near to existing rail and road infrastructure. It also has significant distance advantages over existing coal suppliers to certain markets in the north of SA. Some of Minergy’s coal will be trucked into markets just over the border, but the bulk will be moved by rail to Mahikeng in the North West, where it can be diverted to any part of the country usi...
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