The Matla complex is situated in South Africa’s Highveld Coalfield and consists of three underground mines (Matla No 1, 2 and 3 Mines) which produce between 12 to 15 million tonnes of raw coal per annum for the Matla Power Station. See story on Matla, published October 2000.
The present shortwall was installed in 1997 with block dimensions of 115m width and lengths of 3000m. The second shortwall face, is expected to add about 5Mtpa (including development coal) to the 5–6Mtpa produced by the No 2 shortwall mine. Production will replace existing production capacity from the No 1 and No 3 bord and pillar mines.
The equipment selection process involved extensive evaluation of the various manufacturers’ proposals and detailed analysis of all design aspects of each component of the face equipment, Matla mine personnel said. The resulting selection was as follows:
Eickhoff will supply a Shearer with a ranging arm installed power of 825KW and a haulage pull in excess of 900KN. The mass of the machine will be in excess of 100 tonnes and will incorporate special features to address the challenges of cutting hard coal at an extraction height of 5.5m.
DBT are to provide both the Roof Supports and AFC. The Roof Supports will be 1050t capacity (at yield), two leg shields with 400mm internal diameter legs. The extended height of the shields will be 6000mm and the closed height 2700mm. Shield centres of 1750mm were selected due to the maximum mass limitation of 40t. The shields incorporate features such as double stage flipper, base steering and rapid yield valves to cater for the envisaged two seam conditions.
The AFC will be a 1100mm wide roller curve design for a face length of ±121 (cut length) metres. This design incorporated 1300KW of installed power, a 48mm single chain and PG5 pans.
In November last year Anglo Coal and Ingwe sold coal interests, including the Matla mine, to black empowerment group Eyesizwe Coal for R360 million. The deal was part of a black empowerment initiative to establish a large, balanced, financially viable black-controlled coal mining group, Anglo said at the time. Eyesizwe will produce around 18 million tons of coal per annum, and is South Africa’s fourth largest coal producer.
