Boikarabelo Coal Mine

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Boikarabelo Coal Mine is a cancelled coal mine in Resgen, Limpopo, South Africa.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Boikarabelo Coal Mine	Resgen, Limpopo, South Africa	-26, 27.545833 (approximate)

The map below shows the approximate location of the coal mine:

Loading map...

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Project Type	Project Phase	Opening Year	Closing Year
Cancelled	Permitted	New	Stage 1	–	–

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
6	–	–	Surface	Open Pit	90.18	30	*

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt)	Year of Total Reserves Recorded	Total Resources (Mt)	Coalfield	Coal Type	Coal Grade	Primary Consumer/ Destination
267.1	2018	995	Waterberg	Bituminous	Thermal	Boikarabelo power station (Resgen)

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Ledjadja Coal Pty Ltd	Resource Generation Australia	Australia

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the GEM April 2024 Global Coal Mine Tracker dataset.

Background

The Boikarabelo coal mine is a proposed surface mine in Resgen, Limpopo, South Africa.

The mine is expected to produce 6 million tonnes per annum for the Boikarabelo power station, and is owned by Resgen South Africa, a subsidiary of Resource Generation (Australia).

After more than a decade in development, the project is delayed logistically and financially and is presumed shelved. Mining at the Boikarabelo mine was scheduled for late 2013. However, as of January 2014 the company was still working to secure financing for the mine portion of the project. In February 2015 ResGen said that its Boikarabelo mine had been delayed by three to six months as the company’s main earthworks contractor, Protech Kuthele, went into liquidation in early July 2014.

In September 2015, ResGen said it received funding for construction of the mine from HAB & JPR Privée, a Swiss private company. The mine is estimated at US$480 million, and the coal handling and preparation plant at US$200 million. The technical review of the mining project concluded in February 2016. In May 2016 Resgen signed a letter of intent for for US$141 million with engineering firm Sedgman Limited for the design, procurement and construction of the coal handling and preparation plant.

In March 2017, Resgen signed an extension of its facility agreement with Noble Resources for up to US$8.4 million for the Boikarabelo mine. Due to the delay of funding, Resgen expects the first coal from the mine to be produced in the first quarter of 2019.

In December 2017, Resgen agreed to offer to sell to international commodity group Noble Resources a committed volume of 800,000t of coal annually for years one to three of the “uncontracted tonnage offtake agreement” plus up to another 300,000t/year on a quarterly basis. Noble is a 13% equity owner of Resgen. In November, Resgen chairman Denis Gately was replaced by Lulamile Xate. Gately said, “The last financial year, and the five months since, has not been easy. The company has been able to survive financially thanks solely to support provided by Noble, one of its significant shareholders and a longstanding and committed supporter of the Boikarabelo project.”

As of April 2018, the project is still struggling to secure financing, and the energy economics group IEEFA believes the project is unlikely to take off:

"The project’s original lending consortium, in negotiation with ResGen for two years, pulled out of the project in 2017 because an offtake agreement with Eskom for 40 percent of the mine’s output could not be reached. Subsidized funding from Australia’s export credit agency, Efic, is now said to be off the table. That leaves the company negotiating now with a new consortium in hopes of reaching financial close this quarter. But that will get ResGen only part way to where it needs to be: the talks do not cover funding for a required rail link or for ramp-up costs after the mine is commissioned. While it attempts to secure financing, ResGen is relying on a continuing working capital facility from one of its major shareholders, Noble Resources, with which it also has a coal offtake agreement. This does little to brighten the projects outlook, however, given Noble Group’s own current financial crisis."

In 2018, the mine had $39 million in loans from the bilateral, Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa, but there was no date of approval, and unclear if the financing processed.

In September 2018, it was reported that coal production from Boikarabelo was expected to start in the first quarter of 2019 and reach 1.26Mt a month from December 2019. Resource Generation (Resgen) is developing the project through Ledjadja Coal, a Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) subsidiary. Resgen holds a 74% stake in Ledjadja Coal, while the remaining 26% stake is held by Fairy Wing Trading 136, a South African company. Ledjadja Coal obtained US$450 million in financing from FirstRand Bank, Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa, and Noble Resources International.

In June 2019, a "Market Update" on Resgen's website announced that all members of the proposed Lending Syndicate had confirmed credit approval for funding the development of the mine, pending terms, conditions and board approval, for a total funding package of R4.2b. On April 2, 2020, Resgen announced that the final investment decision (FID) on the mine would be delayed from April 2020 until at least June 30 due to logistical and financial problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Resgen's capacity to develop the mine was thrown into further doubt in Fall 2020 after the withdrawal of two of four key financial backers. By late October 2020, the company flagged it would need US$1 million to keep the company operating through to the end of January 2021. Noble Resources ruled out providing additional funding to get the project to financial close and South Africa’s Government Employees Pension Fund also withdrew its support for the proposal.

In March 2020, Resgen announced that it was engaging with Noble Group for the purposes of securing access to additional working capital to finalize a strategic review of the company that was initiated in November 2020. Resgen considered measures to ensure the continued solvency of the group and alternatives for progressing development of the Boikarabelo project.

After developing the Boikarabelo project for more than a decade, Resgen announced in April 2021 that funding has been halted, the CFO and COO have stepped down, and the company is mulling its options, including possibly going into administration.

As of July 2022, Resgen South Africa and its subsidiary, Ledjadja Coal Limited, merged with the Namane Group; Namane now owns a controlling stake in these companies.

• Operator: Ledjadja Coal Limited
• Owner: Resource Generation South Africa
• Location: Resgen, Limpopo, South Africa
• GPS Coordinates: -26, 27.545833 (approximate)
• Status: Shelved
• Production Capacity: 6 mtpa
• Total Resource: 99 million tonnes
• Mineable Reserves: 267.1 million tonnes
• Coal type: Thermal
• Mine Size: 80 squared km
• Mine Type: Surface, open pit
• Start Year: TBD
• Source of Financing: $39 million US (Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa)

Related GEM.wiki articles

• South Africa and coal

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Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.