Botswana‘s privately owned coal miner, Minergy will double its output by opening a new mine if it wins a contract to supply coal to South Africa‘s biggest power utility Eskom, its chief executive officer said in a statement on Friday.
Minergy was shortlisted to supply Eskom’s Tutuka power station in South Africa in October 2020, and a due diligence process is currently underway.
“Minergy’s objective is to double production capacity, which would enable it to access a range of opportunities, including increasing supply to industrial customers and export opportunities,” Chief Executive, Morné du Plessis said, without giving any time frame for ramping up output from a new mine.
Du Plessis did not say when he expected Eskom to deliver its final decision on the contract. He said higher output would enable Minergy to benefit from stronger prices for coal, which have gained due to rising demand from India and China’s ban on imports from Australia.
