The Waterberg Coal Field (A Giant in Waiting?)

Transcription

1 The Waterberg Coal Field (A Giant in Waiting?) By Dawie van Wyk GeoCoal Services and O Barker Banzi Geotechnics cc BANZI GEOTECHNICS cc

2 Factors affecting the exploitation of the Waterberg Coal Field SA Coal demand Perceptions of Coal New 2011 Resources Geology of the Waterberg Coalfield Where to now Alternate energy sources Future of Waterberg BANZI GEOTECHNICS cc

3 Coal Demand Two large Power Stations in Waterberg supplied by Exxaros Grootegeluk Mine Three large reserves of shallow coal Boikarabelo, Sekoko and Nemane Low Phosphorus coal for char Local demand for supply to Eskom Power Stations Majuba and others? Soft coking coal demand Government Green policy IRP2010SA Energy demand and growth BANZI GEOTECHNICS cc

4 Eskom Demand Matimba Medupi Eskom PS C Witbank Power Stations from Eskom Eskom has made a strategic decision to use Waterberg coal in the Mpumalanga power stations. As you know the Waterberg coal is different from the Mpumalanga coal and Eskom would like to run different tests to try and understand what the impact of using Waterberg coal in the Mpumalanga boilers. This means understanding the inherent variability within the Waterberg coal field on coal qualities and how mining of this coal field will influence the product produced at any stage. BANZI GEOTECHNICS cc

5 Export and Sasol Demands Export RBCT > 90 million tons pa Big Corporates are not spending capital on increasing capacity only maintaining capacity as old mines are mined out where is all this new coal going to come from? Sasol > 50 million tons per anum Sasol resources are not unlimited and they have a finite life where will SASOL source new coal? 4 Projects (R14B investment) Thubilisha (Twistdraai) Impumalelo (Brandspruit) Shondoni (Middelbult) Tweedraai (Syferfontein): Waterberg Properties under new investigation BANZI GEOTECHNICS cc

6 Projects and Owners Waterberg Coalfield BANZI GEOTECHNICS cc

7

8 Perceptions of Coal Dirty Kortbroek - we will get rid of dirty smelly coal Pollutes John Burks -Witbank is the armpit of SA Environmentally damaging No more coal fired power stations will be built according to current government Unfortunately Politicians say what people want to hear especially with election looming! UCT students 1990 s We want green energy

9 Perceptions of Coal Rickets caused by smog and no sunlight Smog in Pittsburgh 1900 s 2 pm

10 New CRRSA (2011) Figures (Mt) Area MTIS (M) GTIS (M) ROM (M) Waterberg OC 35, , , Waterberg UG 25, , , Total for Coalfield 60, , , MTIS Mineable Tonnes in Situ GTIS Gross Tonnes In Situ Run of Mine (M) -Million (Tonnages are metric)

11 Coal Resources of the Different Coalfields

12 WATERBERG COALFIELD WATERBERG Limpopo Province The Northern Coalfields of South Africa SPRINGBOK FLATS COALFIELD North West Province Gauteng Mpumalanga There are 20 named coalfields in South Africa Free State Province Kwa Zulu-Natal Eastern Cape Province

13 Coalfields of SA Coalfields of South Africa BANZI GEOTECHNICS cc

14 Geology of the Waterberg See Type Section BANZI GEOTECHNICS cc

15 Diagrammatic Section Through Daarby Fault View West After G Dowling Anglo American BANZI GEOTECHNICS cc

16 Shallow and Deep Coal BANZI GEOTECHNICS cc

17 Profile of the 11 Zones

18 Waterberg Coalfield Typical Waterberg sequence Quick look at geologists logging and sampling cores: BANZI GEOTECHNICS cc

19 Geophysical Logs are essential in identifying the zones and samples within the Zones BANZI GEOTECHNICS cc

20 Cross Sections show the Upper and Middle Ecca

21 Cross Sections show the Upper and Middle Ecca

22 Cross Sections show the Upper and Middle Ecca

23 Sample Selection From To Mining/waste Cuts KD05/11/1BC C KD05/11/1CS W KD05/11/1C C Mining Bench Selection Algorithm to select waste vs. Coal KD05/11/1D C KD05/10/2 C KD05/10/3 C KD05/10/4 C KD05/10/5 C KD05/10/6 C KD05/9/7 W KD05/9/8 W KD05/9/9 C KD05/8/10 W KD05/8/11 C KD05/8/12 C KD05/8/13 W KD05/8/14 C KD05/7/15A W KD05/7/15B C KD05/7/16 W KD05/7/17 W KD05/7/18 C KD05/6/19 W KD05/6/20 W KD05/6/21 C KD05/5/22A W KD05/5/22B C KD05/5/22C C KD05/5/22D W KD05/5/22E C KD05/4/23A C KD05/4/23B C KD05/IB/23AS W KD05/IB/23BS W KD05/IB/24 C KD05/IB/24S W KD05/IB/25 W KD05/IB/25S C KD05/4A/26 C KD05/4A/27 C SST KD05/2/28 C KD05/2/29 C SST OB/SS KD05/1/30 C

24 Cross Sections showing a bench selection

25 Cross Sections showing a bench selection

26 Where to now? Current strategy Do you want to pay more for your electricity? The IRP2010 published plan states no more coal fired power stations (coal will be reduced from 86.5% to56.7% by 2030) Additional electricity is to come from nuclear, gas and renewables like wind and solar! The Waterberg is the largest resource of coal in South Africa and must be developed to produce electricity cheaply if we want to grow and eradicate unemployment and poverty.

27 Comparing Coal vs. Rest (Levilised cost of Energy IEA 2010) 200 Cost (MW/hr) Cost (MWhr) Coal fired Gas Fired Nuclear Wind Solar Hydro

28 Eskom s mixed signals

29 Pollution Emissions

30 Wind Energy To make one wind turbine requires tons of steel 300 tons of coal 300 tons of iron ore In the UK every employee on a wind farm is subsidized by the taxpayer to the tune of 100,000 pounds. Running a wind farm is not profitable by itself without the subsidy!

31 How many coal mines are required to build all these turbines producing electricity below the price it is receiving for the electricity generated?

32 Nuclear has suffered a major set back as a result of the Japanese Tsunami

33 Coal Bed Methane

34 Solar Energy This is 6 times more expensive than electricity from a coal fired Power Station!

35 Surface Coal gasification Sasol s box cut in the Waterberg to test coal for gasification)

36 Underground Coal Gasification UCG creates the voids to store captured CO2 from Matimba and Madupi UCG does not work if coal has any swelling characteristics UCG would work on the Lower Waterberg Zones 1 to 3

37 Current UCG Projects World Wide

38 Water and Infrastructure Availability of water is one of the largest restricting factors in developing coal mines in the Waterberg Anglo s CBM extraction could mitigate this as a lot of water is produced. UCG also provides large quantities of unpotable water Availability of additional electricity (as a result of Eskom's restricted generating capacity and transmission capacity) also plays an important roll in opening up new mines in the Waterberg Coal field Lack of rail infrastructure to RBCT etc.

39 Future of the Waterberg Coal A Pragmatic Risk free approach is needed to unlock the energy in the Waterberg Coal A mix of conventional coal mining and thermal power stations, surface gasification with CBM and/or UCG gas and the Waterberg will become the Energy Centre of South Africa

40 But perhaps if the regulatory bodies keeps making uninformed decisions about our energy needs this would be a good investment! Thank You