Other News

• Anglo Coal reports 6% drop in SA profit
• Xstrata’s South African production down 16% in H1’10
• Keaton Energy to Supply Eskom
• Somkhele to ramp up coal processing capacity
• Continental Coal acquires Mashala Resources
• Eskom partners with IEA on Clean Coal
• Atomic Resources poised to meet Tanzanian coal demand

Roll on renewables – coal is king; protect it and use it, for it will certainly be worth more than gold, diamonds and platinum in the long run, says Dr. Rosemary Falcon of Wits University.

Coal Will Remain King
South Africa leading the way in clean coal research

Renewable sources of energy at this stage only provide about 1% of the country’s energy requirements and may never reach more than 20%, given the considerable ever-growing need for energy in this country. Nuclear is a viable option but this is unlikely to take over from coal for some time to come. So, coal will remain king. South Africa has been obliged to undertake research in a number of areas, in some of these it currently leads the world. New dry coal beneficiating technologies are now undergoing pilot scale testing, with promising results, in an attempt to reduce dependence on water. Use of discard materials as a source of energy in fluidised bed combustion and gasification processes is undergoing review, whilst the ash arising from such processes is being developed for use in building and road materials.