Heritage Cases

The Khwezela Bokgoni Colliery is an existing opencast coal mine situated in close proximity to the town of eMalahleni in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. A number of the sections being mined, are mining through old underground bord-and-pillar workings that are economically exploited through the utilisation of opencast dragline mining techniques. In the north of Pit 2A, a second dragline is required to allow for the necessary productivity improvement to sustain economic viability. Mining in the south of Pit 2A is planned to be continued with the Marion 8200 Dragline by means of the current double bench single pass mining method. The coal mined at the Khwezela Bokgoni Colliery is treated at the on-site coal beneficiation plant. The Khwezela Bokgoni Colliery produces the following products that are sold to both the local and international market: Select coal – Low ash coal product and steam coal product and Non-select coal – Steam coal product. The Project is an extension to the Khwezela Bokgoni Colliery Pit 2A extension project. The mine revised its mine plan to extend mining operations in Pit 2A to include the mining of the coal situated in the area beneath 2A Dam. The mining out of the 2A Dam at Khwezela Bokgoni Colliery will result in a surplus of water, as confirmed by a recent update of the groundwater water balance. The Project will focus on the management of water at the operation after mining out of 2A Dam. It is proposed that mine affected water from Pit 2A is pumped to- and temporarily stored within- the 3A North Underground Area and 5 West Void before being pumped to the eMalahleni Water Reclamation Plant (“EWRP”) for treatment. The proposed water management strategy process is as follows: Surplus water from 2A Dam – The extension of mining activities to include the area under 2A Dam will result in the need to temporarily store water from the mining area before being pumped to the EWRP. Temporary storage of the surplus water from the 2A Dam – It is proposed that water is temporarily stored within the following areas: • 3A North Underground Area, and • 5 West Void. eMalahleni Water Reclamation Plant– The process as outlined above will be conducted through the construction of associated infrastructure (pumps and pipelines) to facilitate the movement of water from 2A Dam to the proposed storage areas that will ultimately be pumped to the EWRP for treatment. The main activities and infrastructure that will be used to facilitate the process as outlined above, are as follows: • Proposed water storage areas: 3A North Underground Area and 5 West Void (existing areas that will be used for storage); • Proposed 400 mm diameter HDPE pipeline pumping water from 3A North Underground Area to Jacuzzi Arm Tank; • Control point to pump water to Jacuzzi Arm Tank or to Plant Reservoir; • Two (2) proposed 400 mm diameter HDPE pipelines pumping water from Ramp 7; • Proposed 355 mm diameter HDPE pipeline pumping water from Plant Return Water Dams (“PRWDs”); • PRWDs (existing infrastructure); • Proposed pump station at the PRWDs; • Proposed 315 mm diameter HDPE pipeline from Ramp 9 to 3A North Underground Area; • Proposed Ramp 9 pump station; • Utilising existing infrastructure at Ramp 7 pump station; • 400 mm diameter pipeline from Ramp 7 to 3A North Underground Area (existing infrastructure); • Proposed 500 mm diameter HDPE pipeline from Ramp 7 to 5 West Void; • Proposed 400 mm diameter HDPE pipeline pumping water from the PRWDs to Ramp 15; • Proposed 250 mm diameter HDPE pipeline pumping water from 5 West PCD to 3A North Underground Area; • Utilising existing infrastructure at 5 West PCD pump station; • Proposed 500 mm diameter HDPE pipeline pumping water from 5 West Void to 5 West PCD; and • Proposed pump station at 5 West Void.