Menar doing due diligence on thermal coal assets being offloaded

Private investment and management company Menar is doing due diligence on thermal coal assets that have been placed on the market by companies wishing to offload them out of their portfolios.

“If we get a good deal, we’ll look at making acquisitions,” Menar MD Vuslat Bayoǧlu told Mining Weekly on Monday. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Such acquisitions would be in addition to the company’s own R7-billion project pipeline, for which mining rights, environmental authorisations and water-use licences are meeting timelines, with the exception of the Palmietkuilen opencast thermal coal mining project, near Springs, on the East Rand.

“Palmietkuilen’s our only disruption,” said Bayoǧlu.

This disruption is the result of the decision of Environmental Affairs Minister Barbara Creecy to uphold an appeal against the project on the grounds that the area has high agricultural potential, which Menar is contesting in court.

Menar is hopeful that the courts will decide in its favour in view of Palmietkuilen’s importance to State-owned electricity utility Eskom as well as to the community. The mine will employ 800 people and a coal processing plant on the property will ensure that Eskom gets “the right quality coal at the right price”, said Bayoǧlu…Full Story