South Africa is heavily reliant on coal for the electricity that runs its economy - but the clock is slowly ticking on the reserves in Mpumalanga, the richest and easiest to exploit. Xavier Prévost, a coal analyst at XMP Consulting, said this week that reserves in Mpumalanga, the hub of South Africa's coal mining industry, could be exhausted in 40 or 50 years. The province, which is home to most of Eskom's ageing coal-fired power stations, has reserves of about 21.5billion tons, about 67% of the total for South Africa, according to Prévost. So will South Africa's other major coal region, the Waterberg in Limpopo, where Eskom already has two power stations - including Medupi - be able to fill the future supply gap for local energy needs and for exports? Known reserves in the Waterberg are estimated to be sufficient to meet about 40% of South Africa's needs for power generation and exports. Prévost is sceptical. "The Waterberg ... [has] lots of resources, very little reserves." "Resou...
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