09 Sep 2018

Managing director of Minergy Coal Mine at Medie in the Kweneng District, Mr Martin Bartle says the mine would create over 400 jobs.

Briefing Medie residents during awareness campaign by Minergy Coal Mine officials to sensitise the community about the general mine operation such as blasting and safety issues during a kgotla meeting recently, Mr Bartle said due to agreement set over local empowerment, he was hopeful that the mine would also improve the lives of many in Medie and assured the community that the mine was expected to impact significantly towards Medie’s economic development.

“We are not only aimed at empowering individuals, but we also aim to transform Medie village through electrification of tribal offices and the local primary school as well as provide  internet connectivity to ease communication,” says Mr Bartle.

Areas to cover, he said, would be to ensure regular grading of Lentsweletau/Medie road to ease accessibility as well as to construct a new road passing through Dikgonnye in the Kgatleng District to Tshele Hill Siding for the loading of coals transported by trucks to various locations.

The other development, according to Mr Bartle, would include erection of a power line from Lentsweletau passing through the village to the mine entrance.

The company, which was issued with a licence recently, will operate for 25 years and is expected to extract 319 million tonnes of coal, whose first production will be mid-January 2019.

He highlighted that most undertakings were going to be outsourced with Jargon & Giant Mining Company together with John Dee Mineral Processing, responsible for mining and coal processing, respectively.

Meanwhile, Medie community was requested to allow cataloguing of structures in preparation for blasting to guide on the initial status of existing structures in the village. The exercise, he said, would provide guidance on the extent of damages that might be caused by blasting.

Minergy Coal Mine is a supplier of coal to industrial customers and power utilities across Southern Africa, fully owned by Masama Project in the Mmamabula Coalfield.

The general manager, Mr Gabotshwarege Tshekiso had assured the community that regular efforts would be made to ensure that dust raised by mine activities would be regularly managed through the use of dust compressor so that it does not affect people’s health.

The project status, he said, was currently at a stage where the ground was being prepared for construction by fencing the production site, bush clearing, and infrastructure development to pave way for the actual works.

The safety, health and environment officer, Mr Herbert Kebafetotse assured residents that the mine would be operating within the requirements of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), where issues of environment would be adhered to.

He pleaded with parents to regularly monitor children to keep them away from machinery sites because machines were dangerous and could cause accidents.

The mine, he said, would be the first open pit coal mine, but there would be no permanent scar as they would rehabilitate land after coal extraction. ENDS