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Riversdale Mining Limited is a mining company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange under the ASX code RIV. The Company intends to develop as a diversified mining finance house, focused on growth through investment in suitable mining opportunities. It is the company’s intention to assemble a portfolio of suitable assets through rapid growth for the benefit of all our shareholders, and emerge as a diversified mid-tier mining house with excellent returns on shareholder funds, a strong orientation to growth, and a pipeline of projects.
Zululand Anthracite Colliery (ZAC)
On 1 December 2005 Riversdale completed the acquisition of 74% in ZAC, an operating underground anthracite mine located in the Zululand coalfield of northern Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa.
Geological Setting
ZAC is located within the Zululand coalfield of northern Kwa-Zulu Natal. The Zululand coalfield can be described as structurally complex, due in part to coal deposition within a graben structure where active rifting and down-warping took place. The active rifting and subsidence resulted in thick sedimentation and high geothermal gradients, which, in turn, produced an anthracite deposit where regional heat and pressure played a major role in the anthracitation process.
This contrasts with many other anthracite deposits located in Kwa-Zulu Natal where the anthracitation process is directly related to proximity to post depositional dolerite sills. Coal quality and yield distributions at ZAC are in general more uniform as opposed to anthracite developed in other Kwa-Zulu Natal coalfields due to the anthracitation process being influenced by regional heat and stress conditions and not dependant on proximity to dolerite sills. This structural feature has rendered ZAC anthracite as the only true anthracite in South Africa (as distinct from semi anthracites) with a low volatile content of typically 5% on an air dry basis, with high vitrinite content which allows this coal to be used in high value niche markets.
The unstable tectonic conditions in the vicinity of ZAC produced a number of recognisable coarsening up sequences that have been separated into distinct zones by mine geologists from observation of the borehole record. Numerous small coal seams are developed within these coarsening upward cycles, but only the Main Seam attains a thickness of more than 0.8 m. The ZAC Main Seam coal deposit has been broken up into the Kwa-Sheleza, Ngwabe, Mgeni and Maye mining blocks by north-south trending faults with displacements in excess of 100m. The Kwa-Sheleza mining block is, in turn, divided into the Sheleza North, Sheleza Deep and Sheleza Shallow blocks by a northwest-southeast trending graben with displacements of approximately 140 m on the bounding faults. Many of the fault displacements have dolerite dykes that have exploited the weakened country rock fabric. Within the fault bounded resources areas, the Main Seam can be found at both subcrop and to more than 200m depth with increasing surface elevations from south to north.
Operations
ZAC's underground mining operations use the bord-and pillar method, to be followed by stooping on retreat. A fleet of mining equipment allows flexibility for operating in different seam thicknesses is utilized, with a combination of road-headers and continuous miners supported by scoops and shuttle cars as appropriate. ROM (Run of Mine) Coal is transported by road truck to the coal treatment facilities which are capable of treating up to 90,000mt per month - the significant unutilised capacity allows ZAC great scope for economic expansions of throughput. Coal is trucked to a tipping site, and fed into a MacNally crusher to segregate stone from the raw coal, before being fed into a circuit of cyclone and drum washing facilities. A spiral plant assists the recovery of fine coal into the middlings stream as a saleable product.
Other Exploration:
Ngwabe Block - The Ngwabe potential resource area is located between the Kwa-Sheleza and Mngeni reserve areas in a perceived down faulted graben structure.
Exploration success at ZAC has resulted in an increase in the Coal Reserves to 11.41 million tonnes at 30 June 2007 (30 June 2006: 8.01 million tonnes). A significant potential resource has been identified in the form of the Ngwabe Block.
Exploration drilling is being undertaken in the Ngwabe Block and the main seam has been broadly delineated at depths ranging from 200 to 450 meters.
The developments are highly promising and suggest that a considerably larger mine can be established at ZAC over a 3-5 year period, with a substantially longer mine life, that will fully utilise the current unutilised washing plant capacity.
Mozambique Coal Project
The Company became a leading coal enterprise in a major emerging coal region following an agreement to acquire the following exploration tenements in Mozambique:
Listed on the Australian Stock Exchange with its head office in Sydney, the Company is currently focused on developing mineral assets in southern Africa - including anthracite coal resources in South Africa, and coking and thermal coal prospects in Mozambique.
| Directors | |
| Mr William Michael O'Keeffe | Chief Executive Officer and Chairman |
| Mr Niall Lenahan | Finance Director and Company Secretary |
| Mr Richard Potts | Non Executive Director |
| Mr Andrew Love | Non Executive Director |
| Mr Steve Mallyon | Managing Director |
| Senior Management | |
| Jim Coleman | Project Development Manager: South Africa |
| Peet Snyders | Operations: South Africa |
| Steve Thomas | Finance: South Africa |
| Sydney Parkhouse | Operations: Mozambique |
| Roshnee Bardien | Group General Manager Human Resources and Industrial Relations |
Company AddressRegistered Office and Place of Business, Level 1
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Additional Address/Key ContactPostal Address |
Capital154.1 million shares
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Annual General MeetingOctober | Year End30 June |
Nominated BrokersHartleys Limited | Nominated AdvisorsJohn Georgiades |
14/05/07 - Hartleys
29/01/07 - Hartleys - January
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