Unlisted Coal Miners Forging Ahead

While most of the players in the mining sector are worrying about the future, two unknown and unlisted coal mining companies are investing in new projects.

- David McKay

For all the scepticism and dark foreboding in South Africa’s mining sector, some brave souls continue to find a way to invest, especially in the energy sector where two unlisted companies are driving forward. One is Scinta South Africa in which Sandile Zungu of Zungu Investment Corporation (Zico) is invested along with veteran junior miner Humphrey Mathe, a founder in Tranter Resources, and financial services firm Bravura, led by Ian Matthews and Soraya Hay.

The other is Canyon Coal, which is jointly owned by Mercuria, a Singaporean trading commodity house, and Menar Holdings, an investment company which is headquartered in Luxembourg and owned by Vuslat Bayoglu, a Turkish national operating in SA’s coal sector for the last 15 years.

According to Charl Ferreira, an executive director of Zico Investments, Scinta’s plan is to begin exploration work on a new coal mining property that it hopes will deliver 4m tonnes per annum (mtpa) of export and domestic thermal coal at a capital cost of R2.5bn.

The property, known as Davel, was purchased from South32 along with Ermelo Mines, which consists of a plant and infrastructure, including a railway loop, and two discard dumps that Scinta hopes can be mined for short-term cash flow. Davel and Ermelo Mines were bought for R187m.