Coal miner, Hwange Colliery Company (HCC) said it would resume underground mining operations during the last quarter of 2017 following delivery of new equipment.
“The strategic turnaround of Hwange Colliery Company Limited continues and is gathering momentum with the coal mining giant receiving one of the key machines for its underground mining operations. The equipment was delivered at the mine on Sunday, 13 August 2017.The delivery of the coal extraction machine, acronym CM for Continuous Miner, is a major milestone,” said managing director, Thomas Makore.
The company stopped underground mining in 2015 after its aged equipment broke down.
He said delivery of the other machinery is expected in the next six weeks while production is anticipated to start in the last quarter of 2017.
“Underground mining is where we produce high value coking coal, so it will be a good addition to our product mix. It will improve our profitability and adds to our volumes,” said Makore.
Recently, the coal miner selected a European company to conduct exploration and drilling at its new concession in western areas in Hwange.
The new concessions have an estimated underground resource of about one billion tonnes of coal according to the preliminary reports. – The Source
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