“The sale of the Mooiplaats Colliery is the final step in the company’s balance sheet restructuring strategy setting the course for CoAL to become a self-sufficient midtier coal mining company,” said David Brown, CEO of CoAL. “The disposal will yield annual operational cost savings of approximately $1.4 million and the [the proceeds of the sale] will be used to settle Ferret, our Mooiplaats Black Economic Empowerment partner, funding for further development of the flagship Makhado project or the potential acquisition of a cash generating asset. The sale also frees up valuable in-house human resources, facilitating additional focus on Makhado, ensuring the asset can be brought to production optimally.”
The Mooiplaats Colliery is a thermal coal colliery situated in the Ermelo coalfields, adjacent to the recommissioned Camden Power Station operated by state power utility Eskom. The underground Mooiplaats Colliery was developed by CoAL from an abandoned box-cut in early 2008 with the first coal extracted in third quarter of 2009. Mining was undertaken by a contract miner until June 2011 and, following an operational assessment, CoAL retained the existing workforce and equipment, and commenced operating the mine. The reduction in global thermal coal prices from 2013 and rapidly increasing logistics costs resulted in the Mooiplaats Colliery being placed under care and maintenance in October 2013, and this status continues to present day.
