Zimpapers Logo

CAPE TOWN – Coal needs higher prices to survive, XMP Consulting coal analyst Xavier Prevost said yesterday.

Speaking at the IHS Energy South African Coal Exports Conference 2015, he said mines needed to enhance their returns.

He said currently inland coal prices were not falling like export coal and one of the best markets was South Africa’s own local internal domestic market, which needed more coal and where prices of R1 000/t were being fetched.

“We need new mines and new investment, but we don’t have enough investment even though coal is always going to be the cheapest source of energy,” added Prevost, a former manager of South Africa’s national coal database.

State electricity utility Eskom and other South African electricity producers used 128,2 million tonnes worth of coal last year out of 333 million tonnes of run-of-mine coal. Department of Mineral Resources small-scale mining director Kwata PG (Gad) Kwata said South Africa had the sources of coal and the demand for coal and the sector was attracting small-scale miners.

Sicelo Sikakane, GM corporate strategy and planning of State mining company African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation (AEMFC) said there was a greater direct role for government in coal mining, especially in cases where risk capital was unprepared to invest. – miningweekly.com