Makhado Coal Mine

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Makhado Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Mudimeli, Vhembe, Limpopo, South Africa.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Makhado Coal Mine	Mudimeli, Vhembe, Limpopo, South Africa	-22.7999984, 29.9141726 (approximate)

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

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Project Phase	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	Phase 1	2024	–

Table 3: Operation details

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
4	–	–	Surface	Open Pit	81.9	17	122

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
296	2025	–	Soutspanberg	Bituminous	Thermal & Met	Steel Plant

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Note: To access more comprehensive data on energy ownership, please visit the Global Energy Ownership Tracker.

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
MC Mining Ltd [100.0%]	MC Mining LLC [67.00%]; Makhado Colliery Community Development Trust [20.00%]; Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Ltd [6.70%]; other [6.00%]	South Africa

Expansion/Extension

Table 6: Project status

* Added capacity of a coal mine refers to the enhancement in the mine's production capabilities beyond its initial production capacity.

Status	Status Detail	Project Type	Project Phase	Added Capacity (Mtpa)*	Start Year
Proposed	Pre-Permit	Extension	Phase 2	1.3	2026

Note: The above sections were automatically generated and are based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker August 2026 release.

Ownership Tree

This ownership tree is part of the Global Energy Ownership Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

Background

Makhado Coal Mine is a proposed opencast, coking coal mine project in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The Makhado coal project is a coal mine project located in the Soutpansberg coalfield, in South Africa's Limpopo province. It is owned by MC Mining, formerly Coal of Africa Limited, and is the company's flagship project. The mine has estimated recoverable reserves of 188.3 million tonnes (Mt).

According to MC Mining, once operation commences, Makhado will be South Africa's only large-scale producer of steelmaking hard coking coal, which has obvious advantages for South African steel producers.

Delays

The project was granted environmental permits in 2013. However, Coal of Africa Limited had severe cash flow problems in the following years, and was unable to start mining at any of its projects, including both Makhado and Vele. In July 2016, the company was granted an amended environmental permit; and in September 2018, the project's permit was amended to include transport of coal via road. (In April 2019, Mining Journal reported that MC Mining "got the news that the appeal by a "narrow interest group" against the Makahdo EA amendment allowing for the transportation of coal to Musina by road rather than rail, had been unsuccessful.")

In March 2019, MC Mining received approval from its board of directors to move forward on the project. At the time, the company stated that it was lining up financing, and would begin construction in the third quarter of 2019 with production starting in June 2020. This plan, however, did not pan out, and the project's timeline was revised several more times due to issues with securing funding for the $32m Makhado project. Funding initiatives were also delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to a February 2026 update from MC Mining, phase 1 of the Makhado Project continues to progress from construction to commissioning, with steady-state production planned for no later than the end of 2026.

Future Expansion

Should coal production at the initial phase of operations at the Makhado mine prove favorable, MC Mining plans to pursue a phase 2 expansion project which would increase annual production capacity of metallurgical coal to 2.2 mtpa (up from 0.8 mtpa) and increase annual production capacity of thermal coal to 1.8 mtpa (up from 0.65 mtpa).

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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.