- South Africa’s Minister of Minerals and Petroleum, Gwede Mantashe visited South Africa Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) project in Leandra, Mpumalanga last week.
- The Minister emphasise how important coal is to South Africa which is predominantly used to meet the country’s energy needs, including steel production, petrochemicals, cement and brick production.
“Today, South Africa produces the largest amount of coal in Africa, and ranks amongst the top 10 coal producing countries in the world. At least 25% of coal produced in our country is exported to various nations for energy generation, amongst other reasons. Given South Africa’s known reserves of coal that are equivalent to 173 times its annual consumption, at the current production and consumption levels, South Africa can produce coal for the next 150 years and beyond,” said Mantashe.
“However, with the global sentiments against coal use and the growing demand for a just transition from high carbon emissions to low carbon emissions, long term investments in coal mining are declining, and in so doing, threaten the existence of coal mining in the near future. It is in this context that, we have opted to invest in this Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) project to enhance both the efficiency and environmental acceptability of coal extraction, preparation and use,” he added.
“Due to the design life of Eskom’s existing coal fleet and the abundance of coal resources in our country and on the African continent, it is critical for government and private sector to mobilise new investments in more efficient coal technologies, including supercritical and ultra-supercritical power plants with CCUS, to comply with climate and environmental requirements,” Mantashe explained.
In May this year the Council for Geoscience (CGS) and Mzansi Exploration, Drilling and Mining celebrated a crowning achievement as the 1800m drill for the Carbon Capture and Utilisation Storage (CCUS) was completed, a crucial component for the development of the CCUS pilot project.
In closing, the Minister urged all industry role players, including the coal miners and Eskom, to take an interest in the strategic partnerships between CGS and the private sector aimed at augmenting technical and financial capacity as we commence with the second phase of the project.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
