Khutala mine

The Khutala is majority owned by BHP Billiton Energy Coal South Africa, a subsidiary of BHP Billiton. The mine, which is described by BHP Billiton as "one of the largest underground coal mines in the world", supplies Eskom's Kendal Power Station and has done since November 1986.

The mine is situated approximately 55 kilometres south west of Witbank in the Mpumalanga Province. All underground coal is exclusively mined for Eskom’s Kendal power station, situated close to the mine shaft. The open-cut coal is supplied to both the Kendal power station as well the inland metallurgical market.

The company also states that "beneficiation facilities consist of a crushing plant, for the energy coal with a nominal capacity of 18 mtpa. A separate smaller crusher and wash plant with a nominal capacity of 0.6 mtpa is used to beneficiate the metallurgical coal supplied from the opencast operation."

Background
In its 2009 annual report BHP Billiton states that "Khutala was commissioned in 1984. Open-cut operations began in 1996. The mining of a thermal/ metallurgical coal deposit for a domestic market commenced in 2003." BHP describes the coal produced from the mine as being a "medium rank bituminous thermal coal".

Title
In its 2009 annual report the companu states that "BECSA is the holder of an Old Order Mining Right. An application for conversion to a New Order Mining Right, submitted in 2004, is still being processed."

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