Violence disrupts KZN collieries
Coal miners in KwaZulu-Natal have acutely felt the impact of the unrest that engulfed the province and Gauteng recently and some are still not operating. MC Mining, a JSE-listed junior miner, on Tuesday shut its Uitkomst mine, which produces high-grade coal for local and global industrial customers.
Coal miners in KwaZulu-Natal have acutely felt the effect of the unrest that engulfed the province and Gauteng last week and some are still not operating.
MC Mining, a JSE-listed junior miner, on Tuesday shut its Uitkomst mine, which produces high-grade coal for local and global industrial customers.
The nearby town of Newcastle on Monday experienced the destruction and looting of a community centre and several shops. The colliery operations were temporarily halted as a precautionary measure. By Friday there was still no news on the mine’s reopening.
Ikwezi Mining, also near Newcastle, halted its coal mining operations for two days and ramped up security to ensure the safety of employees and to protect its assets.
The Somkhele mine, about 300km southeast of Newcastle, near the Hluhluwe—iMfolozi Park, remained closed all week amid continued unrest.
The mine, majority owned by Petmin’s Tendele Mining, was in the news in 2020 after tension in the community related to expansion of the mine culminated in the murder of an elderly activist in October last year.
During the past week the area suffered large-scale looting and destruction of shops, businesses and infrastructure, including the looting and burning down of the nearby Protea Hotel Umfolozi River.
“Given the remote location of the mine and blocked roads, we were extremely concerned with the inability of the SAPS [SA Police Service] or SANDF [SA National Defence Force] to assist with protecting our mine,” a mine spokesperson said.
The mine had received overwhelming support from the Mpukunyoni community who assisted security personnel to ensure no damage was done to Tendele’s infrastructure.
“The rebuilding process has already commenced as mine personnel and community members are working together to clean up the area. This includes the unblocking of roads and, where possible, the repairing of damaged infrastructure,” he said. “If all goes according to plan and the unrest subsides, the Somkhele mine expects to commence operations over the next few days.”
The country’s essential coal supply chain has managed to tick over amid the unrest.
The Zululand Anthracite Colliery (ZAC), owned by private investment company Menar, suffered no disruptions or production losses despite some staff absenteeism due to the unavailability of bus services.
However, deliveries to customers were impossible due to the chaos in nearby towns. Menar said the railing of products has been interrupted at ZAC as well as its two other Mpumalanga coal operations due to the inability of Transnet Port Terminals, Transnet Freight Rail and private ports to perform.
The unrest resulted in a low worker turnout and severely affected service levels at the ports of Durban and Richards Bay. This in turn affected Transnet’s coal line.
Transnet told Business Day at the weekend that the situation had begun to return to normal as staff returned to work. The state-owned enterprise said it was continuing work to clear all blockages in the supply chain to deliver goods into and out of SA.