Inside Grootegeluk coal mine

ON-SITE

Prior to entering the mine, all vehicles have to undergo mandatory brake testing

Inside

GROOTEGELUK COAL MINE

Dineo Phoshoko attended a media tour at Exxaro’s Grootegeluk mine in Lephalale, Limpopo. The aim of the tour was to show the fruits of the company’s R20 billion pledge at the 2019 Investment Drive.

Grootegeluk is the world’s largest coal beneficiation complex operating from a single open pit. With more than 3 500 employees, it is considered Exxaro’s flagship mine and located within the Waterberg Coalfield. During the tour, the media were shown key points of the mine including the mine pit, rapid load-out station and an overview of the beneficiation complex. In addition to the mine, the tour also included a visit to the on-site clinic.

Total Ex-Pit tonnes 90 Mt p.a

Over / Interburden 30 Mt p.a

Run of Mine 60 Mt p.a ROM to In-pit Crushers ROM to GG7/8 Plants

Backfill Preparation

Upper and Lower Systems @ 7,600tph

Backfill Sealing

ON-SITE

Plant Discard to Upper & Lower Backfill

ROM to Plant Tipping Bins

The Grootegeluk mine pit is made up of 13 benches and is 12 m deep. The highest bench is 18 m high Mining takes place in a westerly direction and has a surface area 1 200 hectares. In terms of size, the mine is 3 km wide and 5 km long

ON-SITE GROOTEGELUK

COAL MINE

The rapid load-out station features a 3 500 storage capacity silo and as well as an automated system. The station is able to load a 100-wagon train within four hours

Grootegeluk has a fleet of 60 trucks. The biggest has a capacity of 250 tonnes

Grootegeluk’s Marapong Occupational Health Centre provides healthcare services to mine employees as well as the greater Marapong community

ON-SITE

The station is flexible and able to load off multiple products across all the stockpiles from the plant, including semi-soft coking coal and metallurgical coal Grootegeluk mine supplies nearby power stations with coal, including Eskom’s Matimba Power Station

The beneficiation complex has nine processing plants, which are able to beneficiate semi-soft coking coal, thermal coal and metallurgical coal Mine stockpiles include a million tonnes of thermal coal, 160 000 tonnes of semi-soft coking coal, and under 120 000 tonnes of metallurgical coal

The healthcare facility also has a lab where Covid-19 tests are conducted