Saleable coal has been produced for the first time in Botswana, Reuters reports. The chief executive of Mingery, the company that owns the mine, stated that their production was exported to South Africa and Namibia. 

It was reported that around 39,000 tonnes of coal were extracted from the Masama Coal Mine since July. The company plans to increase its workload to obtain 100,000 tonnes of coal every month to be sold. This was confirmed by Morné du Plessiss, Chief Executive of Mingery. He said, ‘We have come such a long way and are pleased with developments at the mine site. We are extremely excited about the future of the project, our ability to supply coal into the region, the highly experienced team responsible for executing the plan, as well as our capacity to contribute towards a viable coal sector in Botswana.’

Apart from targeting sales in South Africa and Namibia, Minergy also believes that it can do well in the Botswana market, despite being a smaller one. 

He explained, ‘From [August] it is envisaged that Minergy will be mining 110,000 tonnes run of mine per month. The same quantities will be put through the washing plant and this should result in saleable coal of between 70,000 to 80,000 tonnes, increasing to 100,000 tonnes per month next year.’

du Plessis continued, ‘Minergy is currently exploring various options for off take, ranging from longer-term agreements for the finer duff product to spot deals for the bigger fractions.’