Vanggatfontein Coal Mine

This article is part of the Global Coal Mine Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

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Vanggatfontein Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Delmas, Nkangala, Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Vanggatfontein Coal Mine	Delmas, Nkangala, Mpumalanga, South Africa	-26.173803, 28.843381 (exact)

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

Loading map...

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	–	–

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
4	2.9	2021	Underground & Surface	Mixed	16.51	60*	682

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
17.75	2022	20.96	–	Subbituminous	Thermal	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Salungano Group Ltd	Salungano Group	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	–	–	–

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

Background

The Vanggatfontein coal mine is a surface and underground mine owned by the Salungano Group (formerly known as Wescoal Holdings), and located near Delmas, Mpumalanga, South Africa. The Vanggatfontein mine was acquired by Wescoal (now known as the Salungano Group) in June 2017 from Keaton Energy. (In March 2022, Wescoal changed its name to "Salungano Group" in an effort to better reflect the group’s diversification away from only coal, even though it would continue to have “strong roots in coal mining.")

The colliery produces coal for the national utility Eskom.

Vanggatfontein is currently operated as an opencast mining operation based on contractor truck and shovel strip mining and rollover methodology. However, planned projects focus on increasing the ROM coal reserves by focusing on low-quality thermal coal markets and additional underground mining potential.

In March 2022, the mine was placed on care and maintenance because Salungano was "unsure how long Eskom will take to renew its coal supply agreement." As of July 2022, the mine has no specific time estimate to re-commence operations.

• Operator: Wescoal
• Owner: Salungano Group
• Location: 16 km southeast of Delmas, Municipality of Victor Khanye, District of Nkangala, in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa
• GPS Coordinates: -26.173803, 28.843381 (exact)
• Status: Operating (Care and maintenance)
• Production: 2.9 Mtpa (2021)
• Total Resource: 20.96 million tonnes
• Mineable Reserves: 17.75 million tonnes
• Coal Type: Thermal
• Mine Size: 1651.98 hectares
• Mine Type: Surface, opencast (with undeveloped underground resources)
• Start Year:
• Source of Financing:

Extension

In 2018, an application was submitted to South Africa's Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to combine the Vanggatfontein site with its neighboring Braakfontein and Reitkuil properties. Should the application be approved, the Braakfontein and Reitkuil Project will extend the life of the Vanggatfontein colliery, as well as add 421 hectares of opencast, truck and shovel mining to the operation.

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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.