The prospects for anthracite are looking very good, especially in terms of market value and having demand coming from different parts of the world, says Menar MD Vuslat Bayoglu, who was speaking to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Bayoglu reports that many European countries are seeking alternatives to anthracite from Russia, a major anthracite producer, and opportunities are opening up for non-Russian anthracite producers to establish long-term relationships with new markets. South Africa, which produces about three-million tons of anthracite a year, is one of the countries benefiting from access to new lucrative markets. Sixty per cent of South African anthracite is exported from Richards Bay and Durban and 40% is used domestically for sintering, ferroalloys, and electrode paste. Menar, which bought Zululand Anthracite Colliery (ZAC) from mining major Rio Tinto in 2016, is now investing in the development of ZAC’s new Mngeni shaft. ZAC operates an underground narrow-seam operation located in Emakhalathini, about 100 km from Richards Bay in Northern KwaZulu-Natal. ZAC has continued to supply anthracite to Rio Tinto’s Richards Bay Minerals. “For us it’s a good operation, it makes money and we have a very good relationship with the community in the area, so we are very happy to have invested in Zululand Anthracite,” says Bayoglu. ZAC is currently mining from three shafts in five different sections. “The main challenge with ZAC is that the geology is very difficult, it might be the most difficult underground coal mine in South Africa. We have several issues, be it gas or dykes, so production has got lots of challenges. “Hence, we have find ways of increasing production. We decided to put in a new shaft. We called it Mngeni and after a long timeline we got all the approvals. We’ve started clearing the site and we’re hoping to get the first coal out of Mngeni in March/April next year,” says Bayoglu, who adds the company is continuing to explore the area. This will aid in extending the life-of-mine of ZAC still further and, with that, the extension of jobs and social labour plan benefits in an otherwise poor region of the country, where a large community is dependent on ZAC for water. Water from underground is purified and supplied to about 80 000 people. Mining Weekly: What’s your assessment of the global anthracite market? Bayoglu: I think four inter-connected factors will drive the market in the foreseeable future. The first is the race for post-Covid global economic recovery. Major economies – for example, Europe, Asia, China and the United States – are trying hard to avoid a slump and to put their economies at levels better than the pandemic phase. The second is the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine which has triggered Western sanctions against Russia. European anthracite importers that have previously depended on Russia have searched and discovered replacements elsewhere including in South Africa. The third factor is the intrinsic value of anthracite. As a high-premium coal with high carbon content, anthracite is suitable for a variety of industrial applications – from steel to electrode paste manufacturing. According to the World Steel Association, about 89% of a blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace’s energy input comes from anthracite, 7% from electricity, 3% from natural gas, and 1% from other gases and sources. In the case of the electric arc furnace route, the energy input from anthracite accounts for 11%, from electricity 50%, from natural gas 38%, and 1% from other sources. The fourth is possible shortage of coking coal. According to a recently released report by market research company Fortune Business Insights entitled ‘Anthracite Coal Mining Market, 2022-2029’, the global anthracite coal mining market size is set to expand significantly in part due to expectation of global coke shortage. In addition, Macquarie researchers recently projected a deficit for metallurgical coal ...